


The Slytherins' Mudblood (2.0)

by ItsTheBrit



Series: The Slytherins' Mudblood (2.0) [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dumbledore Bashing, F/M, Good Malfoys, Good Slytherins, Good Voldemort, Hermione Granger-centric, Honorary Slytherin Luna Lovegood, Honorary Slytherin Neville Longbottom, Not Canon Compliant, Out of Character, Pureblood Culture, Pureblood Politics, Pureblood Society, Rated teen for language, Ronald Weasley Bashing, Slytherin Hermione Granger, Slytherin Politics, Wizarding Politics, Wizarding Traditions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-02-16 21:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13062609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsTheBrit/pseuds/ItsTheBrit
Summary: Hermione Granger is not your typical muggle-born student. Her first day in the wizarding world finds her catching the attention of one Lucius Malfoy. He makes a split second decision to take her under his wing and educate her on all things wizarding world which sets off a chain of events on its own with the immediate effect being Hermione sorted into Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (This is a rewrite of The Slytherin Mudblood because I didn’t enjoy how I was writing it and ended up trapping myself in writer’s block).Disclaimer: As much as I would like to be able to take credit for the amazing literature that is Harry Potter, that credit belongs to the wonderful J.K.Rowling. The only aspect of my story that is my own is the plotline. I have taken direct dialogue from the Harry Potter series written by J.K.R. and would appreciate not being flagged for copyright violations/plagiarism. Thank you and enjoy!***As of March 26, 2018 Lily Moon will be a Gryffindor due to it leading to an uneven distribution of Hermione's year-mates amongst the four houses only discovered at this moment in time. (plus she probably would have lead to a massive plot hole at some point).***





	1. The Beginning of The End

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyy I'm back. This is - hopefully - going to be a better version of The Slytherin Mudblood (and bc I'm not creative I'm naming it The Slytherins' Mudblood 2.0). As always, I appreciate constructive criticism - just don't be an ass about it. The HP generation of Slytherins will act slightly (okay hella) out of character when they aren't maintaining their public images (basically when they're alone in their common room/away from non-slytherins and their parents).
> 
> basically I also say basically too much but I hope you enjoy this new/better version of my original fic.
> 
> ***As of March 26, 2018 Lily Moon will be a Gryffindor due to it leading to an uneven distribution of Hermione's year-mates amongst the four houses only discovered at this moment in time. (plus she probably would have lead to a massive plot hole at some point). Any update that is not the third chapter (still working on it, school is hard guys plus i wanted to match the length of the second chapter bc consistency y'know?) will be because of my removing Lily Moon from Slytherin***

**Chapter 1 : The Beginning of the End**

_“Thoughts”_ || “Speaking” || **_Letters_** || _Flashbacks_

 

 

_Eleutheromania (n)_

_  
_ _an intense and irresistible desire for freedom_

 

 

Hermione Jean Granger. Muggle-born. Born September 19, 1979. The brightest witch of her age - though that comes later. She was always an independent child, especially when it came to her schooling. Her peers, in particular, saw to that. They - her muggle classmates - thought her too smart, too much a teacher’s pet.

 

When the owl arrived carrying a letter to an unfamiliar school that claimed to teach magic of all things, Hermione felt excited for a fresh start with children her own age. She didn’t want her parents to be with her, however, in case they accidentally embarrassed her in front of somebody influential - so when it came time to purchase her school supplies for Hogwarts, Hermione traveled alone. The stern-looking Professor - “McGonagall,” Hermione recalled. - had given her directions to Diagon Alley and what to do once she arrived.

 

_“Go to the bank first and ask to speak to Ragnok. He’s the leader of the Goblin Nation, and runs the Hogwarts Scholarship Vault,” the Professor had said. So that was where Hermione went first._

 

“Mr. Ragnok, sir.” Hermione started speaking again. She had just received an enchanted bag keyed into her new Gringotts vault filled with 20,000 galleons to get her through her first two years at Hogwarts

 

_“Economic inflation is a very serious thing, fresh-blood.” Ragnok had explained to Hermione’s shocked expression. He also explained that when Hermione chooses her electives for her third through fifth years she’d have to come back for a vault refill, and another one before her sixth and seventh year, if she hasn’t found a way to earn herself money by then._

 

“Yes, Miss Granger?” Ragnok answered. Did he seem to have taken a liking to Hermione, perhaps because of her good manners?

 

“What would you recommend I buy first? I am…” Hermione paused to think of the right word. “completely new to this world and otherwise have no knowledge.” She asked the Goblin Leader. Ragnok grinned down at her, and surprisingly, she wasn’t as frightened by it as she expected to be.

 

“Most fresh-bloods buy all of their items first, without something to carry them in. I would recommend you buy a durable trunk. Some sort of dragonhide, perhaps, with featherlight, impervious,  and automatic shrinking/unshrinking charms that can be activated by a tap of your wand and also keyed to your magical signature for maximum security” Ragnok replied.

 

“Many thanks, Leader Ragnok,” Hermione curtseyed to the Goblin Leader - not a king. Said leader inclined his head before she departed.

 

Upon leaving the bank, however, Hermione’s eyes were drawn to the shop right next door - the Magical Menagerie.

 

“Well it’s not as if getting a pet first would make much difference,” Hermione muttered to herself under her breath before opening the door to the shop.

 

Immediately an array of different sounds hit her. Different pitches of cats meowing; toads croaking every so often; there were even rats squeaking constantly. It was quite overwhelming - although not as much so as the orange creature that immediately leapt at Hermione the minute the door was closed again.

 

“Oh! I’m so sorry dear. Crookshanks never behaves, and it’s just gotten worse over the years.” The shopkeeper rushed over to Hermione, apologizing profusely, before stopping in her tracks when she heard the animal purring.

 

“He’s absolutely ADORABLE! How much is he?” Hermione gushed over the creature in her arms.

 

“You… you can have him… for free… if you really want him .” The shopkeeper stammered.

 

“Really?! Thank you so much! I just want to pop next door and order a trunk for school, do you mind keeping him here for a little while longer? He looks intelligent, maybe he could help pick out supplies I’ll need to take care of him?” Hermione asked politely.

 

“Well, he is half kneazle. So yes, he is very smart. I’ll start a box for the items you’ll need. You go on ahead and get your school trunk.” The shopkeeper seemed to have recovered from her shock during her mumbling and quite literally shooed Hermione out the door in her eagerness to get the supplies for the now-owned half Kneazle.

 

With that, Hermione was out the door of the Menagerie and through the doors of the shop next door, Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment.

 

“Ah hello, Miss. Hogwarts?” At Hermione’s nod, the shopkeeper continued speaking. “My name is Mr. Wiseacre or Mr. W for short.”

 

“Hello, Mr. Wiseacre. I was told to get a durable, preferably dragonhide, trunk with quite a few enchantments on it. Can you help?” Hermione replied.

 

“Of course I can help! Follow me to the back room - that’s where the trunks are stored.” As Mr. Wiseacre led Hermione through the shop, she saw most of the bulkier items on her list.

 

“Right-O. First things first, we’ve got to decide what sort of trunk you’re looking for - how many compartments you’ll be needing. Are you more into fashion to where you’ll need a compartment strictly for wardrobe? A bookish type in need of a self-sorting library? A potions extraordinaire that requires a stable place to store your tools and ingredients? An apt herbologist with a knack for picking up plant clippings that need an immediate greenhouse? The possibilities are endless, my dear.” Hermione looked baffled at the samples Mr. Wiseacre rambled off.

 

“Well, I do enjoy a spot of reading…” Hermione trailed off. Mr. Wiseacre grinned at her and motioned for her to continue speaking.

 

Hermione left the store 5,000 Galleons lighter. The trunk cost 4,500 G and included: a pull-out, self-organizing library compartment, a potions compartment with stabilizing and preservation charms, a wardrobe compartment, and an expanded compartment for Crookshanks to play in as well as the normal compartment for the other school supplies.

 

The basic, one compartment, not enchanted trunk was 1,000 G. Each additional compartment without the enchantments were 500 - Hermione had four additional compartments - which brought up the price to 3,000 G total. The package deal for enchantments for a first-time trunk buyer cost 1,500 G as opposed to 2,500 G. The deal meant, for Hermione, that instead of 500 G for each compartments’ specific enchantments as well as 500 G for the enchantments on the outside to make it impervious to damage, feather-light, and shrinkable for easy transportation.

 

The telescope, eagle-feather quill set, self-refilling ink pots in the colors black, red, blue, purple, green, and glittery pink ( _‘I doubt I’ll ever use that colour but it’s funny to know that I own it’_ ), the quill maintenance kit, and five 10-foot rolls of parchment cost 500 Galleons altogether.

 

The trunk would be finished by lunchtime, so Hermione figured that she’d get her robes next.

 

When she reached Madam Malkin’s Robes For All Occasions, Hermione gently pushed open the door after maneuvering around a man that was most definitely too large to be fully human. The bell at the top of the door tinkled and one of the two boys being fitted on the pedestals glanced at the front of the store.

 

“I say, look at that man!” The boy with gelled-back blond hair said suddenly, motioning towards the window next to the door, his grey eyes widening ever so slightly.

 

“That’s Hagrid” The raven-haired boy replied. “He works at Hogwarts.”

 

Hermione walked towards the two, having seen a woman taking measurements of the raven-haired boy, and waited patiently for one of them to be finished. The woman looked up and saw Hermione waiting and offered a gentle smile, which Hermione returned.

 

“Oh, I’ve heard of him.” The boy who Hermione named Blondie, said. “He’s a sort of servant isn’t he?”

 

“He’s the gamekeeper.” was the response from the other boy, who Hermione named Raven.

 

“Yes, exactly, I heard he’s a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed,” Blondie said. Hermione decided to interject.

 

“I mean… wouldn’t it be quite difficult to control magic while drunk? I’m sure that isn’t completely his fault. Even though he shouldn’t be getting drunk around children anyways…” Hermione said. Blondie nodded his agreement.

 

“Yes, see. Exactly. What sort of ‘gameskeeper' get drunk around children?”

 

“Well I think he’s brilliant,” said Raven. Hermione noticed his tone getting more and more defensive as their conversation went on, but Blondie hadn’t seemed to notice.

 

“Do you?” Blondie sneered slightly, “Why is he with you then? Where are your parents?”

 

“They’re dead.” Raven’s tone was clipped.

 

“Oh. Sorry. But they were our kind weren’t they?” Blondie asked, not sounding very sorry in the beginning.

 

“They were a witch and wizard if that’s what you mean.” came the reply.

 

“I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even _heard_ of Hogwarts until they get their letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in old wizarding families. What’s your surname anyways?” Blondie asked, but before Raven could respond, Madam Malkin told him she was finished and that he could leave.

 

Blondie turned towards Hermione and a calculating look came across his face - as much as an eleven-year-old could be calculating.

 

“What about you? What’s your surname?” He asked, his tone accusatory.

 

“Granger. My name is Hermione Granger. What’s yours?” Hermione replied slowly.

 

“Malfoy. Draco, Malfoy.” Blondie, now Draco, answered back. He looked like he wanted to say more but was cut off by the bell ringing again, signaling the door opening.

 

“Ah, Draco. Still, haven’t finished? Who is this young lady?” A man, who looked to be Draco’s father, walked into the shop.

 

“My name is Hermione Granger, sir. Would you mind answering a question I have?” Hermione addressed the man respectfully. When he nodded his head, she continued.

 

“Draco was speaking to a black-haired boy earlier and brought up parentage… He said that the ‘other sort’ shouldn’t be allowed into Hogwarts because they haven’t been brought up in the wizarding world. Are there books that I could purchase that, as one of the ‘other sort’, would help me integrate better into this new culture I find myself in?” Hermione asked. The man stared at Hermione for a moment before answering.

 

“Draco, you know better than to say those things in public. It's disgraceful. As for you, Miss Granger, you are very intriguing for a mu-ggleborn. My name is Lucius Malfoy, Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy. I would like to extend an invitation to finish your shopping with my family and I today. I will be happy to refer some books to you on wizard culture and tradition.” Lucius Malfoy said. Draco looked ashamed of himself for disappointing his father, Hermione noted.

 

“That’s very kind of you, Lord Malfoy, but I don’t want to be a bother or burden.”

 

“Nonsense. Father invited you. It’s rude to turn down an invitation” Draco butted in, seeming to have gotten over his shame rather quickly.

 

“Oh… Right… Sorry. In that case, I’d be honored to join you.” Hermione lifted her arms to allow Madam Malkin to take her measurements.

 

“Miss Granger… Where are your parents?” Lord Malfoy asked softly, glancing around the store and noting the lack of adults in the room.

 

“I, erm, didn’t want them to come with me. I didn’t want to stick out more than I already do and I figured having them with me would make it worse. Plus I wouldn’t’ve been able to splurge on my trunk and spend 5,000 Galleons at the Wizarding Equipment shop. I doubt I would’ve been able to buy my new cat either. Half Kneazle I mean.” Hermione started rambling, causing the elder Malfoy’s lips to twitch in amusement.

 

“Don’t forget to breathe, Granger,” said Draco.

 

“Oh! Sorry… I, uh, ramble. When I get nervous…” Hermione explained, and then paused, “Why did you call me Granger? My name is Hermione.”

 

“Well, I…” Draco looked to his father for an explanation.

 

“It’s a sort of unspoken, well-known rule within the traditionalist circle in politics. A normal part of our way of life. You see, for us, it’s more respectful to - until you have permission from the other person to address them by their given name - refer to them by their family name.” Lord Malfoy explained.

 

“Oh! Well then, in that case… Malfoy, you have my permission to call me Hermione. But only if you want to, that is. It’s entirely up to you, after all, you don’t really -,” Hermione cut herself off when Draco held a hand up to stop her from rambling too much.

 

“Only if you call me Draco.” He said, smirking at her. Hermione grinned shyly at him.

 

“That’s both of you done as well dears. Just a Hogwarts set for you both?” Madam Malkin clarified.

 

“Yes, just a Hogwarts set. The fabric will be Acromantula silk imbued with heating charms. Their winter cloak and gloves will be dragonhide with the fur of a Mngwa lining the inside with heating charms as well. All the clothes need fire-proof, water-proof, and impervious charms.” said Lord Malfoy.

 

“Of course Lord Malfoy, these shouldn’t take too long. If you could pick them up around noon?” Madam Malkin requested. Lord Malfoy nodded his agreement and guided the two children out of the shop.

 

“Draco, your Mother is waiting for us at Ollivander’s. After you and your wands find one another, I will suggest to your Mother that she take Miss Hermione to Twilfitt and Tattings for her to buy a new wardrobe to wear outside of classes at Hogwarts.” Lord Malfoy whispered in their ears.

 

The group of three walked down the street to a shop that was narrow and shabby. Hermione looked up at the name of the shop and saw the peeling gold letters that read Ollivander: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. There was a single wand resting on a faded purple cushion in the window.

 

“Here we are. Come inside, children.” Lucius instructed, leading them into the shop.

 

“Hello, darling. Lucius, who is this young lady you brought with you?” An obviously high-born woman with pale skin, black hair, and grey eyes asked, kissing both Lucius and Draco on their cheeks.

 

“Mother, please, we are in public.” Draco protested, a faint pink tinging his cheeks

 

“Cissy, this young lady is Hermione Granger. She was left here alone by her muggle parents, and wishes to learn more about traditionalistic pureblood society and our traditions.” Lucius spoke, resting his hand on Hermione’s shoulder. “I have invited her to finish her shopping with us and, should my instincts be correct, we will most likely sponsor her after this school year.”

 

“Are your instincts ever wrong, my love? Miss Granger, I have a strong feeling that you will be a good influence on our little Dragon.” Narcissa replied, smiling warmly at Hermione for a moment. Draco scowled at the nickname.

 

“Good afternoon.” A soft voice said, making Hermione and Draco - though he will deny it later - jump.

 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Ollivander,” Lucius said cooly - he has a reputation to uphold of course. “We are here for two wands today.”

 

“Ahh, Mister Malfoy. I remember your wand quite well. 10 inches, Elm, with a dragon heartstring.” Mr. Ollivander said, smiling slightly. Then he turned to face Draco and Hermione. “Which arm are your wand arms?”

 

When Draco held out his right arm, Hermione followed suit, seeing as she used her right hand in muggle school. Mr. Ollivander pulled out two, silver-marked tape measures and started measuring the pair of children. He measured them from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and around their heads.

 

“Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hair, phoenix tail-feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard’s, or witch’s, wand.” Mr. Ollivander said, rummaging through long, skinny boxes.

 

“Mr. Ollivander?” Hermione piped up.

 

“Yes, dear?”

 

“You said you only use three cores for your wands. Have you ever had a witch or wizard who didn’t match with those three cores? What do you do when that happens? Is there another wand shop in London? Why do you only use three, surely there are other magical creatures in the world, right?” Hermione starting blurting out questions, not giving the wand-maker time to answer.

 

“Hermione! You need to remember to breathe.” Draco said, laughing. Narcissa quirked her eyebrow at Lucius, who inclined his head slightly.

 

“My dear child, there has never been a witch or wizard who has walked out of my shop without a wand. I’m sure there are many other wand cores in the world, but my family’s tradition only involves using phoenix tail feathers, unicorn hair, and dragon heartstrings.” Mr. Ollivander replied, pulling out two wands and offering them both to Draco and Hermione.

 

“Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches, nice and flexible. Give it a wave, now.” Mr. Ollivander said to Hermione before turning to Draco, “Ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches and quite springy. Go on, try it out.”

 

Hermione and Draco looked at each other before each waving their wands in the air.

 

“No no no that won’t do. Wait one moment. I will return.” Mr. Ollivander snatched the two wands back before the two children could do anything. Mr. Ollivander returned with two more wands.

 

“Here try these. 10 inches, hawthorn wood, and a unicorn hair.” He handed that wand to Draco. Draco grinned after he grabbed a hold of it and waved it in the air. A shower of silver and green sparks shot out of the wand. “Oh very good! Now for you Miss. 10 and three-quarter inches, vinewood, and a dragon heartstring.” Mr. Ollivander handed the vinewood wand to Hermione, who felt a rush of power course through her. She grinned at the Malfoys and waved her wand. Silver and bronze sparks rained down and Mr. Ollivander cheered.

 

“That will be 7 Galleons each. 14 Galleons total.” He said, standing behind the desk near the door.

 

“Mister Ollivander… I would like to purchase two wand holsters for the children. To go on their forearms. Dragonhide, preferably.” Lucius drawled.

 

“Of course Lord Malfoy. That will bring your total number of Galleons to 34.” Mr. Ollivander answered. Lord Malfoy pulled out a pouch and from that pouch, the exact number of Galleons Mr. Ollivander requested. “Pleasure doing business with you, Lord Malfoy.”

 

Lucius responded with an inclination of his head. When the group left the shop, Lord Malfoy gave one arm holster to Draco and the other to Hermione, whose protests he silenced with the rise of his hand.

 

“Let this be… a precursor… of what will happen if you do well enough in your first year to warrant a sponsorship.” Lucius explained.

 

“Alright…” Hermione replied. “You mentioned me getting a new wardrobe?”

 

When Narcissa and Hermione exited the high-end clothing shop Twilfitt and Tattings, Hermione was 2,000 Galleons lighter and it wasn’t even the clothes that were the most expensive part of the trip! The most expensive part was the growing charms, fire/water/dirt repelling charms, and the equilibrium charm (to keep the wearer warm in cooler weather, and cooler in warm weather).

 

“Thank you so much Aunt Cissa! I would have been so confused if I was alone,” said Hermione, feeling more confident about not sticking out in this new world with each shop she walked out of.

 

“I think that’s why Lucius waited until after you and Draco had gotten your wands. So I could help you while he took Draco to the Quidditch shop.” Narcissa pondered, leading the young girl down Diagon Alley.

 

“Hermione!” Draco called, waving his arm when he saw her. Hermione turned and saw Draco with his father, who looked very much like the Lord he was - standing tall while resting one hand on his son’s shoulder and the other on his walking cane. Lucius leant down to whisper something in Draco’s ear, which Draco nodded to.

 

“Father said we’re going to get trunks next,” Draco explained, looking up at his father. “Father, may we walk ahead?”

 

“Stay close and don’t get lost,” Lucius warned, waving them off.

 

“We won’t!” Draco promised. He offered his arm to Hermione. “Shall we, Miss Granger?”

 

Hermione looked at his arm for a moment before accepting it and replying, “We shall, Mr. Malfoy.”

 

“Did I mention that I’ve already ordered my trunk?” Hermione asked, glancing at Draco quickly.

 

“Yeah I think you did, what sort of trunk did you order?” Draco answered with a question of his own.

 

“I ordered a trunk with five separate compartments and they all have their own enchantments on them. There’s the regular, standard-sized school trunk with one compartment but then I added a library, a wardrobe, a potions station, and a play-area type compartment for Crookshanks, my new pet.” Hermione explained. The pair walked arm-in-arm with conversation flowing easily between them until they arrived at Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment.

 

“Miss Granger! Just in time as well, I just finished setting the charms on your trunk, you’ll need to come back and pick out how you want the outside of it to look.” Mr. Wiseacre said when he saw Hermione walk in. “Oh and you made a friend! That’s wonderful! Did the two of you want to wait for the adults to arrive?”

 

“Yes please, Mr. Wiseacre,” Hermione replied, smiling up at him.  A moment later the door opened again, to reveal the elder Malfoys.

 

“Oh! Lord Malfoy! It’s an honor to have such an esteemed member of the Wizengamot in my shop.” Mr. Wiseacre exclaimed. “If you and young Mr. Malfoy could come to the back room where I store the trunks?”

 

“Of course, Mr. Wiseacre. Lead the way. Cissy, could you keep an eye on Hermione?” Lucius turned to look at his Lady wife.

 

“Yes, of course, Lucius.” Narcissa set her hand on Lucius’ arm and whispered in his ear before kissing his cheek and moving towards Hermione. Lucius set his hand on Draco’s shoulder and the two followed Mr. Wiseacre to the backroom.

 

“Alright, Hermione. Would you rather stay here and wait for Draco to nit-pick exactly what he wants his trunk to be, or would you rather quickly go next door to collect your pet?” Narcissa asked the girl in question.

 

“I’d like to go collect Crookshanks if it’s not a problem,” Hermione replied. Narcissa nodded her head and motioned to the door.

 

“I will accompany you and wait outside the door while you collect your pet and his accessories,” Narcissa explained, and the pair walked out of the Wizarding Equipment shop. Hermione smiled shyly up at Narcissa and walked into the Magical Menagerie.

 

“Welcome back dear, did it take that long to get your trunk?” The shopkeeper asked.

 

“Oh, no it didn’t take long at all. I got fitted for robes and bought my wand as well. But my trunk is finished so I came to pick up Crookshanks and the box of stuff. You did get a box, right?” inquired Hermione.

 

“Of course dear. There’s a scratching post, an automatic feeding and watering station that’s charmed to not spill, a bed with a light heating charm on it, some feather toys, catnip, and a traveling basket with Crookshanks sleeping in it already. The total comes to 2,000 galleons.”

 

Hermione let out a breath. “It’s a good thing I won’t need to buy most of those things every year.” She explained while handing the shopkeeper the money.

 

“The box has a featherlight charm on it, dear, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to lift. Thank you for your purchase.”

 

“Of course! Thank you for waiting for me to return, and sorting the box out for me.” Hermione smiled at the shopkeeper and exited the store.

 

The street wasn’t as bustling as it was earlier so it was quite easy for Hermione to carry the box to the trunk shop.

 

“Merlin’s ba-beard! That’s a huge box, Hermione!” Draco exclaimed when Narcissa led Hermione back into the shop. He seemed to have not taken as long as his Mother had anticipated.

 

“Yeah, but it has a featherlight charm on it. It cost me 2,000 galleons though. At least the only thing I’ll need to buy again next year is more food, and maybe more catnip.” Hermione said, chuckling a bit. She set the box down on the floor near the counter.

 

“Miss Granger, are you ready to design the rest of your trunk?” Mr. Wiseacre asked.

 

“Of course!” She answered.

 

The group of four left the shop. Hermione had her new trunk shrunken in her pocket. The outside of it was covered in Basilisk hide - something that, if it weren’t for Lord Malfoy, Hermione wouldn’t have known about - with black trim around the edge. The corners had gold plating on them, and the lock matched.

 

Each of the compartments had a unique password that when spoken out loud, allowed Hermione to open it with a touch of her wand to the lock. To access the library compartment, the password is Shakespeare in reference to the origin of Hermione’s name. The wardrobe compartment’s password is Twilfitt, the potion compartment’s password was bezoar - the Malfoy’s helped with that too - and Crookshanks’ compartment password was Kneazle. In order to access the regular ‘school supply’ compartment, the password is first-blood, in honor of Ragnok.

 

Draco’s trunk was similar to Hermione’s except he didn’t get a pet-compartment and his passwords were different.

 

“Let us move onto potion supplies, and then we shall head to Flourish and Blotts for your school books,” Lucius instructed the pair of children.

 

After purchasing their cauldrons from the cauldron shop, they made their way to the apothecary for the rest of the potion supplies. At Lord Malfoy’s request, the shopkeeper gave both children the first year Slytherin kit that had better quality and quantity of potions ingredients and tools compared to the regular first-year kit. At Hermione’s confused expression the shopkeeper pulled her aside to explain.

 

“At Hogwarts the most hated and discriminated against House is Slytherin. I was a Slytherin myself, but the discrimination against Slytherins has steadily gotten worse over the years because of the War. I know it doesn’t make much of a difference, but Slytherins protect their own, so I keep the very best supplies for those who have the ambition to use them. Lord Malfoy can surely explain better than I, however.” Mr. Mulpepper explained quietly to Hermione.

 

“That makes a lot of sense, actually…” Hermione replied. “Thank you for taking the time to explain that to me.”

 

“Of course, anything for a future snake.” The potions supplier winked at Hermione. Lord Malfoy nodded his thanks to the shopkeeper for explaining that to Hermione.

 

“So we’re gonna go fill up mine and Hermione’s library trunk-compartments now, right Father? Mother?” Draco asked, looking up at his parents.

 

“Of course, Dragon,” Narcissa confirmed, smirking at Draco’s scowl.

 

Flourish and Blotts was _easily_ Hermione’s favourite shop. She wandered off, away from the Malfoys, into the nonfiction side of the shop, which was roughly two-thirds of the entire shop and consisted of different sections. The sections include Religion, Politics, History, The Arts, and Text Books for Hogwarts’ students.

 

“Oh, my gosh…,” Hermione muttered. The vast amount of books almost made Hermione’s mouth water.

 

“You should see the library at the Manor, Hermione,” said Draco. Hermione turned and saw Draco smirking at her. There was a slim boy with curly, light-brown/dirty-blond hair and roundish glasses standing next to Draco. His hands were in his trouser pockets and he wore a similar smirk on his face as Draco did.

 

“Hermione, this is one of my best mates, Theodore Nott. Theo, this is Hermione Granger.” Draco introduced.

 

“Granger? Related to the famous Hector Dagworth-Granger who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?” Theodore Nott questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

 

“Well, I don’t quite know for sure, but I’m certain there’s a way for me to find out. I must have gotten magic somehow, after all. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Hermione replied, turning back to the bookshelves. They were in the religion section of the shop.

 

“I never thought I’d see the day where Draco Malfoy would willingly associate himself with a muggle-born,” Theo commented.

 

“Father thinks she has potential, and you know Mother has always wanted a daughter to dote on. She fits right in, really. Reminds me of you a bit, if I’m being honest. She has that bookish vibe about her.” Draco explained, looking through the books nearby. “Hermione. Over here.”

 

Theodore snorted. “Draco you’re useless. Here, let me help.”

 

About an hour later, Theodore and Draco had successfully helped Hermione gather all the books they deemed necessary for her - with some input from the Malfoys. The two boys had also picked up their own school books whilst helping Hermione. The worker stationed at the till spent 20 minutes helping Hermione, who ended up spending 1,000 Galleons just on books alone. After paying for them, Hermione moved out of the way and opened her trunk.

 

Theodore whistled softly when he saw Hermione’s trunk.

 

“Five compartments?” he inquired.

 

“Yeah. A normal one for my school supplies, a library compartment, a potions compartment, a wardrobe compartment, and a compartment for my half-Kneazle to play in.” Hermione said, opening the library compartment with a whispered, “Shakespeare” and put all her school books on the top shelf with the rest on the shelves below.

 

“Do we have time to look through the stationary area?” Hermione asked, looking up at Lucius and Narcissa.

 

“Of course,” Narcissa replied. Lucius nodded his agreement and Hermione grinned happily.

 

Within the stationary section of Flourish and Blotts, Hermione found a selection of trunk-organizers. She meticulously went through the different styles and chose one that had space for her rolls of parchment, the loose-leaf stack of parchment she had just picked up, her eagle-feather quill set and the self-refilling ink pots, her telescope, and all the other bits and pieces she found interesting.

 

“I do believe that it’s time for lunch now, children. Theodore, would you care to join us?” Narcissa said suddenly, jolting Hermione from putting her things inside the trunk.

 

“Of course, Aunt Cissa. I’d be honored.” Theodore replied smoothly.

 

After their lunch, the Malfoys and Hermione parted ways with Theodore - who agreed to a first-name basis with Hermione. Theodore met back with his father at Ollivander’s while the other four returned to Madam Malkin’s for Hermione and Draco’s Hogwarts robes. Hermione put the package of clothes in her wardrobe compartment to sort through later.

 

“This is the last of the supplies I’ll need…” Hermione spoke softly. “Is there a way we can keep in touch? I’ll probably have questions about the books you recommended.”

 

“Father, didn’t you say I could get my own owl for Hogwarts? Can we get Hermione one as well? You’re a school governor, surely if _you_ bought it for her, she could have two pets.” Draco asked his father.

 

“Hmm… There may be a way we could allow Miss Granger two pets.” Lucius said, smirking slightly.

 

“So that’s a yes?” Hermione asked.

 

“Yes, it’s a yes. Can we go to the Owl Emporium now?” Draco replied, looking up at his parents.

 

“I don’t see why not. Come along then, children.” Narcissa replied for Lucius, tucking her arm in his elbow. Hermione did the same with Draco, although there was far less familiarity between them.

 

“Seeing as my parents will wonder why I have two pets, I can just tell them that the owl is an early birthday present,” Hermione mused.

 

“Early birthday present?” Draco asked at the same time Lucius said, “Don’t worry about your muggle parents. You’ll be with us soon if Cissa has anything to say about it - which she does.”

 

“Yes. My birthday is September 19.” Hermione answered Draco first before addressing Lucius. “What do you mean, if Narcissa has anything to say about it? Aren’t you the head of the household?”

 

“My husband might be the face of the family, but I have just as much, if not more, say in what happens to our household. But enough of the subtleties of household politics, I will teach you about it before you graduate. We’ve arrived at the Emporium anyways.” Narcissa said, motioning to the shop overflowing with different types of birds - mostly owls. There were even cages with birds in them outside the shop.

 

As Hermione wandered through the shop, one owl, in particular, caught her eye. Reading the tag beneath the cage, Hermione discovered that the owl that caught her attention was an Indian eagle-owl.

 

“Found one you like?” The shopkeeper asked, walking up to Hermione.

 

“Yes. I’d like this Indian Eagle-Owl.” Hermione replied. Lucius walked over to where they were talking.

 

“Is everything alright, Hermione?” He asked.

 

“Oh, yes. I found an owl I like. This one here.” Hermione motioned towards the caged eagle-owl.

 

“An excellent choice. My father’s favourite owl was an Indian Eagle-Owl.” Lucius commented. “We’ll take this, as well as the Eurasian Eagle-Owl my son found quite catching.”

 

“Of course, sir. That’ll be 20 Galleons for both owls. For another 6 Galleons, both children can have a package deal of owl treats and food pellets.” The shopkeeper said.

 

Lucius handed over 26 Galleons to the shopkeeper and picked up two boxes each of owl treats and food pellets. Hermione and Draco each grabbed their respective owl cages and the group of four left the shop.

 

“I suppose I should be heading home now. Thank you for inviting me to shop with you today,” said Hermione, faintly blushing as she ducked her head.

 

“Of course. Now, child. Did the professor tell you how to get onto Platform 9 ¾ from the muggle side?” Lucius inquired, lifting Hermione’s chin so she was looking at him.

 

“Well… The platform is at King’s Cross Station… I, erm… I don’t recall how to get onto the platform, no,” was the stammered reply from the young girl.

 

“Typical. They preach about having purebloods adjust to the Muggle world, but when it comes to the muggle-borns they don’t even tell them how to get on the train.” Lucius let a sneer cross his face. “To get onto the actual platform from the muggle side, you have to walk through the barrier dividing platforms 9 and 10. If you ask anyone else, they’d say to run if you’re nervous, however that just draws attention to yourself. The best way that I’ve been told to arrive discreetly is to walk up to the barrier and lean against it like you’re waiting for somebody to show up.”

 

“Thank you, Lucius…” replied Hermione, looking at the clock near the entrance of Diagon Alley. “I’ve got to go now, actually. I don’t want to miss the bus. Thank you again. I’ll try to find you on the platform. If I can’t, I’ll see you at Hogwarts, Draco.”

 

The young Malfoy nodded in agreement. “Yeah. See you on the first,” he mumbled, watching her walk away.

 

When Hermione got home, she was disappointed by the lack of interest her parents showed. She went to her bedroom, set Athena - her owl - in her cage on her desk, and unshrunk her trunk to put it at the foot of her bed. After letting Crookshanks out and unpacking her new wardrobe into the wardrobe compartment, she looked around the room. Hermione sighed. She had some reading to do before term started.

 

The first book she opened was one of the few ‘discouraged’ books about the history of the last war in the wizarding world. It was written by Eleanor Greengrass, one of Narcissa Malfoy’s close friends. It only took Hermione a few hours to read the entire text, but it seemed like it took ages.

 

“Reading this reminds me of what I’ve seen on American news on the telle…” Hermione mused out loud.

 

Lady Eleanor Greengrass wrote about what the Light-side claimed the Dark-side propaganda was - mass-murdering all Muggles and Muggle-born - when in reality the Dark Lord’s original plans involved completely separating the two worlds and bringing in muggle-born children earlier than age 11, however, that message got lost in translation over the years and became a huge disaster. She also wrote about how all Slytherins were being incorrectly labeled as ‘blood-purists’ and Dark-side sympathizers just because the Dark Lord was in Slytherin House when he attended Hogwarts. They were bullied, harassed, and discriminated against because of the color on their robes, and that discrimination continues after Hogwarts and is especially prominent in how the Ministry treats supposed Death Eaters in their trials - if they ever got a trial, that is.

 

Hermione sighed and closed her book. _‘I’m gonna have to owl the Malfoys before Hogwarts starts and ask about this new information.’_ Hermione thought.

 


	2. The-Boy-Who-Lived (To-Buy-All-The-Sweets)

**Chapter 2: The-Boy-Who-Lived (To-Buy-All-The-Sweets)**

 

 _ _“Thoughts”_ || _“Speaking” _|| ** _Letters_** || _Flashbacks__

 

 

 

 _Selcouth (adj.)_  
_unfamiliar, rare, strange, and yet marvelous_

 

 

 

 

**_THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!_ **

 

“Hermione Jean Granger! Pick that bloody trunk up when you bring it downstairs! You’ll ruin the hardwood flooring!” Monica Granger, Hermione’s mum, screamed. Hermione sighed and leant against her trunk.

 

“It’s already at the bottom Mum.” She muttered.

 

“Don’t you give me lip, young lady! You’re lucky I’m already heading to London otherwise you’d be finding your own way to Kings Cross Station!” Monica continued yelling.

 

“I wasn’t giving you lip.” Hermione protested. Monica glared at her only daughter in disappointment.

 

“Put your trunk in the bloody fucking car and get in.” She hissed, pointing in the direction of the garage door.

 

“Yes, mum…” mumbled Hermione, lugging her trunk behind her sadly. _‘It’s not my fault I have magic and they don’t, but I don’t understand why I have to hide my abilities around them. Stupid muggles. I’m glad I’ll be gone 10 months of the year now…’_

 

The drive from the Hampstead Garden Suburb to Kings Cross Station wasn’t actually that long, but the tense silence that had settled between the mother and daughter made it go on forever.

 

“Get the fuck out of my car you ungrateful brat. And don’t come back for Christmas either!” Monica whisper-yelled, partly through clenched teeth. Hermione rolled her eyes whilst pulling her trunk from the car, along with Crookshanks’ basket and Athena - her Indian Eagle-Owl - 's cage.

 

“Bye mum.” Hermione said coldly, ‘accidentally’ slamming the car door. She walked through the entrance of Kings Cross Station and headed straight to Platforms Nine and Ten. Funnily enough, Raven was there was well, with a man who resembled a walrus more than a man.

 

“Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don’t seem to have built it yet, do they?” The walrus man said, grinning cruelly. “Have a good term.”

 

Hermione waited until the man was out of her line of sight before approaching Raven.

 

“Hey! Raven!” She called, waving her hand when the boy turned.

 

“Hang on… You were that girl from the robe shop! What’re you doing here?” Raven asked, a dirty look starting to form on his face as he remembered where they met.

 

“Look. Do you want help getting on the Platform or not? I know it wasn’t on the ticket your Hogwarts representative gave you. Wasn’t on mine either and I had a proper professor.” said Hermione.

 

“If you know how to get onto the Platform then do it. I’ll follow you.” Raven said after a minute of silence. Hermione shrugged.

 

“Suit yourself.” She said, pushing the trolley with her trunk and basket towards the barrier.

 

‘See if I care if he can’t get to Hogwarts. That’s a better chance _for me to be in the top percent of students to prove I’m better than my upbringing.’_

 

She pushed the trolley so it was right up against the barrier and casually leaned against the handle, looking around as if waiting for somebody. After a moment she felt something brush against her and, as if it had accepted her, the physical barrier melted away around her.

 

_‘I did it!’_

 

Hermione grinned and pushed her trolley further onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, immediately forgetting about the boy she left on the other side in the excitement. She managed to maneuver herself through the crowded platform until she was next to the bright red steam-train.

 

“You alright, miss?” A platform-worker asked.

 

“Oh! Yes, I’m fine. My trunk shrinks, so I’m just going to do that,” Hermione said, tapping the lid of her trunk with the wand she had had in her forearm holster. The trunk became featherlight and then shrunk to fit in the palm of her hand. Grinning, Hermione picked up her miniature trunk and stuck it in her pocket before grabbing Crookshanks’ basket and Athena's cage, again, and hopping on the train.

 

She wandered down the train, looking for an empty compartment to sit in, and came across a compartment with a shy-looking brunet boy who seemed to be in tears.

 

“Hello there. Are you alright?” She asked gently, opening the compartment door.

 

“I’ve **_-hiccup-_** lost my **-** ** _hiccup-_** my toad! Gran’s **_-hiccup-_** gonna kill **_-hiccup-_** me!” He wailed, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his robe.

 

“Oh dear…” muttered Hermione. She set her trunk on the bench of the compartment and tapped it with her wand to make it grow. Muttering her password - first-blood - Hermione accessed her normal school-supply trunk and got a box of tissues she brought with her. “Here, you can use these.”

 

The boy hiccupped again before giving her a watery smile and accepting the box of tissues. After blowing his nose and taking a few deep breaths he gave the box back to Hermione.

 

“Thanks.” He mumbled.

 

“No problem. Now about your toad. Why don’t we find an older student and ask if they can help us look.” Hermione proposed.

 

“U-us?” The boy repeated. Hermione nodded and smiled warmly. She then turned back to her trunk and returned the box of tissues to their place before shrinking her trunk again. “My name is Hermione Granger, what’s yours?”

 

“Neville Longbottom.” He replied. Hermione recognized the name from the Sacred Twenty-Eight - a directory of the last twenty-eight British pure-blood families Theo and Draco had had her buy from the bookshop.

 

“Well then, Longbottom, let us go find a student to help find your toad.” Hermione declared, opening the door to the train compartment. Neville looked surprised that she followed the unspoken pureblood rule or addressing people by their family names until being more familiar with one another. It took a few minutes of wandering, but the pair of first years were able to find an older student that had a silver P badge pinned to their front.

 

“Look! They have that badge!” Hermione pointed out the student in mention. Neville however, shook his head rapidly.

 

“That student is a Slytherin. He’s not gonna help me, I’m a Longbottom.” Neville replied softly. Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation.

 

_‘Bloody politics. Too bad I’ll need to learn all this in order to change it’_

 

“But Longbottom; Draco and Theo are in that compartment too. The prefect is probably introducing himself to the Heir of House Malfoy.” Hermione insisted.

 

“Alright fine, Granger. Only if you do the talking though.” Neville sighed, caving in to the girl. Hermione grinned and knocked on the compartment. Draco glanced up and did a double take. When he realized it was Hermione outside, his face lit up with a grin.

 

“You made it! I was worried you wouldn’t’ve believed me, or Father, even though you said you did.” Draco exclaimed when the prefect opened the compartment door.

 

“Hi Draco! Hi Theo! Hello everyone else! My name is Hermione Granger. With me is Neville Longbottom. Mr. Prefect, sir, Longbottom here has misplaced his pet. Is there a way you could help us?” She asked, smiling sweetly up at the older student. She seemed to have made a good impression on the pureblood students because they all looked impressed - even Longbottom.

 

“The name is Terence Higgs. I’m the seventh year male prefect for Slytherin and I’d be happy to help the Heir of House Longbottom find his missing pet.” The prefect, Higgs, replied smoothly, smirking down at the relieved expression on both first years’ faces. “What’s your pet's name, Longbottom?”

 

“His name is Trevor,” Neville spoke softly as he replied.

 

“Trevor, you said?” Higgs asked again. At Neville’s shaky nod, the prefect raised his wand and said “Accio Trevor!”

 

After a few moments, the toad came zooming down the corridor of the train.

 

“Trevor!” Neville cried happily, catching the toad midair. “Thank you so much, Higgs.”

 

“Not a problem, Longbottom. Enjoy the rest of the trip to Hogwarts. Make sure you’re all dressed by the time the lanterns turn on, alright you lot?”

 

When the group of first years nodded collectively, Higgs nodded as well and walked down the corridor - presumably to find his own year-mates.

 

“Hermione, Longbottom, why don’t the two of you come and sit down. Instead of loitering in the doorway.” Theo called from his seat by the window. Hermione looked at Neville and shrugged before walking all the way through the doorway to the compartment. She pulled her trunk from her pocket and set it on the floor before tapping it with her wand to make it grow full size. Almost immediately, two beefier looking boys got off their seats and helped Hermione put her trunk on the trunk rack - it was mostly the two boys doing the lifting though. Hermione also put Athena and Crookshanks on the rack.

 

“Longbottom? Are you joining us as well?” Theo asked again, this time raising an eyebrow at the clearly embarrassed boy.

 

“Ye-Yeah I suppose… My trunks back in the other compartment though… The one Granger found me in.” Neville stammered.

 

“Longbottom, you can call me Hermione if you want,” Hermione said gently, walking towards the boy. “I’ll go back and help you get your trunk, too.”

 

“Nonsense Hermione; Vince and Greg can help Longbottom with his trunk. You need to be introduced to the girls, and Blaise.” Draco piped up from where he sat across from Theo.

 

“Thanks for the offer, Hermione… You can call me Neville. Uh… you guys, if you could follow me?” Neville spoke up. The two beefy boys stood up again and followed Neville out of the compartment.

 

Hermione looked around the compartment and decided to sit next to Draco, across from a tall-ish boy with dark skin, high cheekbones and golden eyes. Draco smirked cheekily at Hermione and turned to the rest of his companions.

 

“Right, so since I’m the one who forced this interaction I’ll be the one to introduce everyone. Blaise, Pans, Daph, Trace? This is Hermione Granger. Mother, Father, and I ran into her at Diagon Alley while shopping for school supplies, after which we ran into Theo, and Father took a liking to her - despite her… less than ideal childhood.”

 

At his wording Hermione looked sharply at Draco for a moment. Draco caught this and corrected himself.

 

“I mean that she was raised by muggles. At Yule, if her marks are proficient enough, Father is going to escort her to Gringotts for a heritage test to see if she has magical ancestors, otherwise she’d have to wait ‘til summer. Theo made the connection to the Dagworth-Grangers, so who knows. She might actually be a half-blood or better and if she is, we’ll need to teach her the intricacies of being pureblood heirs. Anyways. Hermione meet Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis. The two boys who sorted your trunk out and went with Longbottom are Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Our parents are all friends with one another, so we _practically_ grew up together.”

 

Crabbe and Goyle returned with Neville, carrying the latter’s trunk between them and stopped outside the door with Neville behind them, thus unable to open the compartment door. Daphne rolled her eyes and, with what sounded like a muttering of “boys,”  got up to open the compartment door for them.

 

“Vince, Greg. This is Hermione Granger. Father has a good feeling about her, which is why she’s to be taught pureblood traditions and culture by us all.” Draco sounded bored as he told the two latecomers the shorter version of the story.

 

“‘Lo Granger.” Gregory said, lifting his hand in acknowledgement. Vincent lifted his hand as well, but remained silent and the two took back their seats by the door to the compartment. Neville sat down in between Daphne and Vincent, across from Pansy. After a moment of silence, Neville decided to speak.

 

“Hello everyone, I’m Neville Longbottom. Everyone in my family thought I was a Squib until I bounced after being dropped head first off of a balcony by my Great Uncle, so don’t expect much in terms of magical capabilities from me. That only happened after years of being caught off guard.” Neville introduced himself. The group gasped in shock.

 

“Not that _any_ of us here care about the Muggle world, but I’m pretty sure that that counts as child abuse and is illegal in the Muggle world. Surely there are laws against that here as well?” Hermione commented and looked around the compartment full of magical-raised children.

 

“Of course there are laws against that sort of behaviour! That’s absolutely horrifying, it’s a miracle Longbottom didn’t become an Obscurial of some sort! Magical children are to be cherished! Not have the magic forced out of them!” Pansy exclaimed. Hermione recognized the word obscurial from one of the books Theo recommended her buy.

 

“I mean they stopped after that, they even bought me Trevor they were so excited.” Neville continued. The group was shocked, although a hint of something promising retribution was slowly entering the expression of them all.

 

“Even if we wanted to do something, we’re only 11. We’d have to wait at least three years before anything we say could be taken seriously. And that’s with the influence of our family names.” Daphne piped up, quickly glancing at everyone seated in the compartment. This seemed to have brought everybody back to reality, because the gleam disappeared.

 

There was a murmur of agreement from the other children.

 

“Look, guys, I didn’t mean to bring down the mood. I was just trying to introduce myself, so everyone else could also introduce themselves.” Neville explained, looking down at the toad he had in his hands.

 

“I suppose I can introduce myself next, seeing as Neville and I are the ones who aren’t very familiar with you all. My name is Hermione Jean Granger and my _muggle_ ,” Hermione grimaced, “parents hate my magic. But I’m going to prove to everyone that my muggle upbringing won’t set me back. And I haven’t figured out what exactly I’m going to do after Hogwarts but it’s gonna be a big political move and everyone’s going to know who I am.” she declared, looking at the group of purebloods with determined eyes. Daphne and Theo both cocked an eyebrow in response and Blaise tilted his head at her.

 

“I like her.” was the only thing the dark-skinned boy said. Daphne and Theo nodded at that.

 

“I like her goals. She’ll need a support system though. And if she succeeds? Well, I wouldn’t protest my involvement being brought to light.” Pansy commented, patting Hermione’s knee from across Tracey’s lap.

 

Draco smirked at his friends. “I suppose that’s why Father offered to sponsor her if she does well enough during our first year,” he said. That seemed to impress the other purebloods even more so than Hermione’s manners.

 

“Well you’ll be happy to know that I always had top marks in my muggle primary school.” Hermione boasted smugly, “I intend to do the same here.”

 

“What’s a primary school?” Blaise asked, now intrigued.

 

“Well… when muggle children reach age four they can be enrolled in what’s called nursery school, where they’re taught the alphabet and basic numbers. It’s mostly to get them to socialize with other children their own age though. Then, when they’re five or six, they’re put in primary school where they’re taught words and arithmetic. They do arts and crafts as well to help the creative children understand better. They also have nap-time and recess which is where they go outside to play games with children in and out of their class.” Hermione explained.

 

“That’s _kind of_ interesting - as much as muggles _can_ be interesting, of course. Our parents just hired tutors to teach us what they couldn’t, mostly the basis for potions and some basic history. But they, our parents, did teach us family history, etiquette and the arts among other things. I absolutely love hosting tea parties for the lovely girls in this compartment, as well as painting pictures of the gardens.” Daphne spoke up, smiling at Pansy and Tracey.

 

“That’s incredible. My nana taught me some etiquette before she passed, but that was more common stuff like how to curtsy properly, and what to call the people above our family’s station, proper posture… just stuff like that.” Hermione replied. “Oh! Do any of you have siblings or cousins that you’re close to?”

 

With that question, Hermione learned that Daphne has a younger sister named Astoria who starts Hogwarts in two years time, Pansy has an older brother named Perseus who’s a fifth year, and Blaise has 6 older half-siblings who are all adults and live on the continent or in Africa. Draco, Theo, Vincent, Gregory, Tracey and Neville are all only children like her, however Draco has a younger cousin through his father called Luna Lovegood, who starts Hogwarts next year.

 

“The only fault she has is that _her_ father has them living in Ottery St. Catchpole which is where the Weasley’s live.” Draco explained, grimacing when he said Weasley. “Which means that besides me, she grew up knowing them and is probably best friends with the Weasley girl, who also starts Hogwarts next year. Luna’s gonna be a ‘Claw though, she’s got just the right amount of eccentric creativity to deter her away from the other three houses.”

 

“Luna’s gonna be a claw? What are the other houses? I know about Slytherin… but the books I got didn’t go into much detail.” Hermione asked. “Oh, I’m also an only child of only children so I don’t have any cousins or anything.”

 

“Right. You’re Muggleborn. Damn you make it easy to forget that. Anyways, at Hogwarts there are four houses. Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. Mother told me that all we have to do is put on a hat that was enchanted by the Founder’s, and the hat sorts us into one of the four houses based on the traits it sees within us.” Pansy explained.

 

“Slytherin values cunning, ambition, resourcefulness, determination… all the traits that anybody with reachable dreams have. Ravenclaw values wit, a love of learning, creativity, intelligence… everyone calls the ‘Claws bookworms or know-it-alls but from how well I know Luna, those are just the stereotypes. Like the ones for Slytherin include us being dark wizards and witches who are all also Death Eaters who followed the Dark Lord and want to purge the world of Muggles and Muggle-borns.” Draco chimed in.

 

“My family thinks I’m gonna wind up in Hufflepuff, which isn’t bad as that house values loyalty, hard work, and fairness. But the stereotypes are that ‘Puffs are the leftovers who didn’t fit into any of the other ‘proper’ houses - although I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why my family thinks I’ll be a Hufflepuff. My parents were in Gryffindor, though, which is where I want to go - so I can be closer to them - and Gryffindor House values chivalry, bravery, and standing up for what's right.” Neville concluded.

 

“Hm… I’ll probably wind up in Slytherin or Ravenclaw,” Hermione said, wondering out loud. “Speaking of the Dark Lord, isn’t Harry Potter in our year?”

 

“Oh sweet Merlin, don’t get Draco started again.” Blaise groaned, running a hand over his face.

 

“Merlin’s pants! Father wants me to try and befriend him, good for our family image you know?” Draco exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. “Vince! Greg! Let’s go look for him!”

 

“Alright, Drake.” Gregory said, standing up at the same time as Vincent did. The trio left the compartment, leaving space for the rest of the group to stretch out a bit.

 

“I think I’m going to go to the front of the train and ask how long we’ll be… Anybody want to join me?” Hermione said, standing up as well.

 

“No thanks Granger, but don’t forget to change when you come back.” Pansy replied for the group. Hermione smiled and nodded to the group before also leaving the compartment.  

 

She wandered down the train for a bit before running into an old woman pushing an empty trolley.

 

“I’m so sorry dear, but a pair of first-year boys bought everything on my trolley.” She said when Hermione approached her.

 

“How inconsiderate for the rest of the students on board! But… I was actually wondering if you knew how far we are from arriving?” Hermione asked.

 

“Oh of course dear. We should be getting there in about three-quarters of an hour. Plenty of time for you to change into your uniform.” The woman replied. Hermione nodded her thanks and continued down the train, hoping to run into Draco. She got her wish a few moments later, when said boy walked dejectedly down the corridor with Vincent and Gregory behind him, the latter with tears in his eyes as he cradled his hand.

 

“Draco, what happened?” Hermione asked gently when the three boys reached her.

 

“I found Potter. He’s already befriended a Weasley, and when I tried to warn him not to because Weasley’s are too deep in the pockets of the manipulative Headmaster, the weasel’s pet rat bit Greg in the hand.” Draco explained.

 

“Don’t worry about Potter or Weasley. Karma’s a bitch, so they’ll get what’s coming to them. The trolley lady said we’d be arriving within three-quarters of an hour, so we’d better get changed soon.” Hermione whispered, taking Draco’s offered arm and walking back to their compartment with the three upset boys.

 

They got back to their compartment and the girls left to let the boys change. After they did so, the two groups switched places so the girls could change. When everybody was changed there was only 15 minutes until the train was due to arrive at the station. The boys re-entered the compartment and Draco told everyone else what he told Hermione.

 

The rest of the train ride passed in silence as everyone was lost in their own thoughts. The silence was broken by the conductors voice ringing through the train.

 

“We will be arriving at the Hogsmeade station within five minutes. If you could please leave your luggage on the train, the house-elves will be sorting through it after everyone is off,” said the voice.

 

“This is it guys. The rest of our lives will be decided soon.” Tracey stated, brushing the few stray blonde hairs that escaped her bow, out of her eyes. “I, for one, cannot wait.”

 

“I can.” Neville whispered nervously. “I don’t know where I fit in anymore.” Daphne seemed to have heard him, because she turned and comfortingly grabbed his forearm to show her support.

 

“Longbottom, even if you’re a Gryffindor and the rest of us are Slytherin, you’ve become one of us. If Gryffindor gets too rough for you, find one of us and we’ll help.” She said. “The same goes for you too, Granger. You’re both one of us now.”

 

Hermione let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and smiled shakily at the other girl.

 

“Thank you.” Neville replied. “Thank you so much.”

 

“Yeah, thank you.” Hermione echoed.

 

The group of ten children exited their compartment as soon as the train stopped, reluctantly leaving their belongings in the luggage rack. The platform was dark and freezing cold and the group of first years huddled together to conserve heat when a lamp appeared to be floating.

 

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over ‘ere! Alrigh’ there, ‘Arry?” The gameskeeper from Diagon Alley was holding the lamp up.

 

Draco scoffed, “Of course _Harry Potter_ gets special treatment.”

 

The entire class of first years followed the half-giant down a narrow path that lead to the edge of a large, black, lake. Across the lake was Hogwarts.

 

“Oh Merlin, it’s _gorgeous,”_ Daphne murmured. The rest of the children nodded or whispered their agreement.

 

“No more’n four to a boat!” the half-giant shouted.

 

Daphne grabbed Tracey, who grabbed Pansy, who grabbed Hermione, and the group of four girls clambered onto a boat. Hermione looked over and saw Blaise, Theo, Neville, and Gregory in one boat, and Draco and Vincent in another boat with two other boys. One had what looked like wild, black hair, and the others was bright red. None of the boys on that second boat looked happy to be there.

 

“I’m assuming that Draco and Crabbe are on a boat with Potter and Weasley? because they all look miserable,” Hermione commented to the girls.

 

“Poor Draco.” Pansy sympathized. Daphne and Tracey nodded in agreement. Before they knew it, all the first years had successfully crossed the lake without anybody falling in, and were now waiting by the entrance doors. The half-giant knocked on the doors - loudly - and it took a moment but they were eventually opened by a tall woman with black hair, emerald robes and a stern expression.

 

“The firs’ years, Professor McGonagall.” said the half-giant.

 

“Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” Professor McGonagall replied, opening the doors all the way.

 

The room was massive.

 

There was no other way to describe it. There were stone walls lit up with torches along them, the ceiling was so high you couldn’t actually see it - although that could have been because it was night time too - and there was an incredible grand staircase made of marble that led to the upper levels of the castle. The group of first years followed the professor across the floor where they could hear the noise of the rest of the school through a doorway to the right and into a rather small antechamber.

 

“Welcome to Hogwarts.” The Professor began, “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting Ceremony is very important because while you are at Hogwarts, your houses will become your family. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in the House dormitories, and spend free time in the House common room.”

 

Hermione glanced at the girls beside her.

 

_‘They’d be a hell of a lot better family than the one related to me by blood’_

 

“The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you House points, while any rule breaking will lose them. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.

 

“The Sorting Ceremony will begin shortly, so I suggest you tidy yourselves up to look presentable while you wait.” The Professor looked at the children gathered before her with what Hermione could only describe as disdain. “I shall return when it is time.”

 

A loud voice broke the silence the Professor left behind.

 

“She said _Slytherin_ has a noble history? _Slytherin_? Don’t make me laugh! Everybody knows all Slytherins are evil!” The redhead Hermione had assumed was Weasley said, laughing pathetically.

 

Hermione looked over at her new friends and saw how miserable Draco still looked. She decided to ignore what Weasley said and bring up Potter.

 

“So I heard a rumor that Harry Potter was on the train with us?” She stated loudly, drawing the attention of the rest of the first years from Weasley to her.

 

“Yeah that’s right! I sat with him and he bought us the sweets off the trolley!” The same red-headed boy replied, grinning smugly at her. Hermione cocked her head slightly before realization dawned in her expression.

 

“Oh so _you’re_ the inconsiderate pair of first-year **twats** that bought all the sweets before anybody else who wanted them could?” She inquired, putting a hand on her hip. At this, outraged whispers broke out amongst the first years who didn’t sit with Hermione. Potter’s eyes seemed to widen at that, too.

 

“I only told her that I wanted _some_ of everything, not that I wanted to clear the trolley off…” He stammered. “I-I’m sorry…”

 

Hermione’s expression softened. This was just another scared child in a new world, same as her.

 

“Don’t apologize to _her_ , Harry! She’s hanging out with Malfoy! She’s probably a slimy, evil, Slytherin snake, same as the rest of them!” Weasley commented. Hermione’s expression hardened again.

 

“Uh… Ron?” Potter spoke up.

 

“Yes Harry?” Weasley replied.

 

“You do know that snakes aren’t slimy right?” Potter asked. Weasley was flabbergasted. Blaise snorted in amusement and Professor McGonagall returned to the antechamber.

 

“Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to begin. Form a line and follow me.” Professor McGonagall commanded the first years.

 

The first-years entered the Great Hall and many oohed and awed.

 

“When I’m older… I’ll enchant my ceiling to look like this.” Hermione whispered in awe.

 

The gaggle of first-years stopped at the steps of the platform the Head Table was set on and watched as Professor McGonagall set an old mangy hat on top of a stool.

 

 

 

Then it moved.

 

 

 

Well, technically it sang.

 

_Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,_

_But don’t judge on what you see,_

_I’ll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

 

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hat’s sleek and tall,_

_For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

 

_There’s nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can’t see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

 

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

 

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

 

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you’ve a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

 

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You’ll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

 

_So put me on! Don’t be afraid!_

_And don’t get in a flap!_

_You’re in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I’m a Thinking Cap!_

 

 

Everybody in the Great Hall burst into applause as the hat bowed to each of the four House tables. A few of the first years started whispering amongst themselves but then stopped when Professor McGonagall pulled out a list.

 

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.” She said, “Abbott, Hannah!”

 

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat - which fell right down over her eyes, and sat on the stool.

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!” the Hat shouted, causing the table on the far right, dressed in yellow and black, to burst into cheers.

 

“Bones, Susan!”

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!” Susan sat down next to Hannah and Hermione watch them start chattering together.

 

“Boot, Terry!”

 

“RAVENCLAW!” The table second from the left, dressed in blue and bronze, cheered for their new member.

 

“Brocklehurst, Mandy!”

 

“RAVENCLAW!” Mandy joined Terry at the ‘Claw table.

 

“Brown, Lavender!”

 

“GRYFFINDOR!” The table on the far left exploded in cheers and applause and Hermione saw two redhead twins catcalling.

 

“How horrid.” Hermione commented to Daphne, motioning to the twins.

 

“That’s absurd. They have absolutely no manners.” Daphne replied.

 

“And they’re much too loud for my liking” Tracey piped up. Hermione and Daphne nodded their agreement. Millicent Bulstrode was sorted into Slytherin and the table second from the right, dressed in green and silver, clapped loudly without being obnoxious like the Gryffindors.

 

“I didn’t see Millie on the train!” Pansy said, pouting slightly.

 

“Oh but it’s wonderful that she’s one of us as well! We should have a full court now I think,” Daphne smiled back.

 

“Crabbe, Vincent!” Hermione looked over her shoulder and saw the boys from the compartment giving him supportive shoulder pats before he walked to the stool.

 

“SLYTHERIN!” Once again, the Slytherin table cheered without being obnoxious.

 

“Davis, Tracey!”

 

Tracey smiled nervously at her friends before walking up to the stool to put the hat on.

 

“SLYTHERIN!” Daphne and Pansy let out relieved breaths and Hermione clapped politely from the line.

 

“Finch-Fletchley, Justin!”

 

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

 

“Finnigan, Seamus!”

 

“GRYFFINDOR!”

 

“Granger, Hermione!” Professor called. Hermione let out a shaky breath and smiled at Daphne and Pansy before stepping up to the stool.

 

As soon as she sat down, her vision was blocked by the rim of the old hat the Professor placed on her head.

 

“Who are you calling old, dear child?” a voice whispered in her ear. Hermione squeaked in surprise, eliciting a chuckle from the hat.

 

“Hmmm… You’ve a decent mind in here, child. Rowena would be so, so proud. Ah! But what’s this? You’re going to try and reshape the government in favor of ending discrimination based on what you’ve read about creature discrimination and the way Slytherins are treated because of the war?”

 

_‘Try? I’m not going to try, I’m going to do it! With or without the help of Draco, Daphne, Theo, Pansy and the rest of them.’_

 

“How positively ambitious! And you’ve already gained the friendship of influential pureblood families as well! If that isn’t the makings of a fine Slytherin I don’t know what is. Oh! Yes, yes... that would do it too” The hat said. “There’s only one place for you now child and that is SLYTHERIN!”

 

It took Hermione a moment to realize the hat shouted the last word, but when she did, she removed the hat, got off the stool, and followed Tracey’s footsteps from moments earlier. As she approached the Slytherin table, she noticed hissing and booing coming from the table hosting the Gryffindor House. Furrowing her eyebrows, she quickly sat next to Tracey.

 

“Have they done that for everyone?” Hermione asked her table-mates. It was an older student who answered her.

 

“It’s just because they’re sore losers. Slytherin’s won the Quidditch and House Cups for the past seven years running. Any new snake is a threat to the group of lions.” A boy - young man really - she recognized as Terrence Higgs from the train replied. Hermione nodded in understanding and turned to watch the remainder of the sorting.

 

Daphne had slipped into the seat next to Hermione and the two girls smiled at one another. Soon, Gregory joined them too, and Neville wound up in Gryffindor. Hermione clapped politely for both of them, as did Tracey, Daphne, and Vincent. A few more first years later, and Draco and Theo joined them as well, sitting across from the girls next to Vincent and Gregory. Pansy joined them just as McGonagall announced Harry Potter.

 

The Slytherin table collectively scoffed, and lost interest in the scrawny first year with taped together glasses. The rest of the Great Hall, however, grew dead silent in anticipation for The-Boy-Who-Lived’s sorting. Eventually, he joined Neville at Gryffindor, though nobody at Slytherin clapped this time. The Sorting Ceremony ended with Blaise joining them.

 

The Headmaster chose that moment to stand up.

 

“Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words, which are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!”

 

Hermione was shocked. This was their Headmaster?

 

“Uh… Is he mad?” Hermione asked the group of first years. Theo scoffed.

 

“Of course he is, but I think Drake wants to say something.” said the boy.

 

“Right, thanks Theo. We all know each other, yes?” Draco asked the group of first years.

 

“I don’t know Granger, but I know everyone else.” One girl at the end of the first years, next to Pansy, piped up.

 

“Millie! I didn’t see you on the train, how _are_ you?” Pansy exclaimed softly, giving the other girl a side-hug. “Millie this is Hermione Granger. Lord Malfoy is helping her, and she sat with us on the train, and we all like her, so she’s joining our court. Granger, this is Millicent Bulstrode. Our mothers are the best of friends, as were our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. We’re practically sisters at this point and from what we spoke about on the train, I think the two of you will really enjoy one another’s company. ”

 

After that introduction, the conversation seemed to revolve around Draco and Daphne and the upper-years who were looking in on the first years - who already seemed to have chosen their prince and princess in the Malfoy and Greengrass Heir and Heiress - seemed to freeze when Hermione started talking more about how different it was being a muggle-born. Whispers broke out further down the table, which drew the attention of the first years.

 

“Granger!” One older girl hissed down the table. With the other three tables making their own rackets, the snakes didn’t have to worry about being overheard _too much_ but it was better to not be too risky.

 

“Yes?” Hermione replied hesitantly.

“You’re muggle-born? And that lot haven’t given you shit for it yet?” She asked. Hermione nodded in confirmation.

 

“Right. Well there’s obviously a reason for you being sorted here. None of you firsties let her wander alone, understand? It’s bad enough being a Slytherin, but being a muggle-born in Slytherin? It’s got to be worse.” The boy across from the older girl said with finality. The other older students nodded.

 

“She’s one of us and we protect our own. We know this.” Daphne replied, staring down the older students.

 

“Smart girl.” One of the prefects commented, receiving nods of agreement throughout the other prefects.

 

“You can’t be raised by Eleanor Greengrass and not be smart, now can you?” She replied, flipping her brunette hair behind her shoulder. The upper-years laughed.

 

“Of course not. Alright you lot can carry on and eat your supper.” Terrence told them, grinning.

 

With that note, Hermione looked down at the table and was shocked at the amount of food there was. The once empty dishes were now loaded with everything from roast beef and chicken to pork and lamb chops to sausages and steak, from boiled potatoes to roast to mash to even chips. Every vegetable imaginable was on the table as well as, for some reason, peppermint humbugs.

 

Hermione grabbed small amounts of everything except the humbugs, and dug in.

 

Well, as much as one could dig in with poise and elegance.

 

While everyone was silent around her due to eating, Hermione chose that moment to look over at the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables behind Theo. She saw that Neville looked extremely uncomfortable, sitting between Ronald Weasley and Seamus Finnigan, both of which ate like starved animals. She swallowed the food in her mouth to speak to the first years.

 

“Look how uncomfortable Neville looks at the Gryffindor table.” She muttered. Daphne, having heard her, looked on as well and nodded in agreement.

 

“He does look miserable, doesn’t he?” She agreed. “Although, I would be too if I were stuck between two animals.”

 

“At least he knows he can come to us if he needs to.” Blaise commented before taking a bite of a Yorkshire pudding.

 

“That’s true…” Hermione replied, trailing off to finish her meal. After the dinner was finished and everybody had had their dessert, Dumbledore stood up again. The upper-year Slytherin’s rolled their eyes.

 

“Ahem! - just a few more words now that we’re all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you.

 

“First year students should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.” The Headmaster’s eyes seemed to be looking at the pair of redhead twins who were catcalling earlier.

 

“I have been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their House team should contact Madam Hooch.

 

“And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone that does not wish to die a most painful death.”

 

“Uh. Sorry, did he just said that there’s a death corridor?” Hermione asked incredulously.

 

“I’ll have to tell Father, he’s on the Board of School Governors. Get that looked into. Hopefully immediately.” Draco muttered, looking to Daphne who nodded in agreement.

 

“I’ll tell Mother as well, and someone should tell Neville to tell his Grandmother.” Daphne said.

 

“I’ll do it tomorrow. There’s no classes, right?” Hermione offered.

 

“Yeah, ‘cause it’s Saturday. Classes won’t start until Monday.” Blaise confirmed. “I’ll go with you Granger.”

 

“Thanks Zabini.” Hermione replied. Blaise gave Hermione a nod, and the first years tuned back in to the Headmaster’s speech, somehow not noticing the other three tables had started and finished singing the school song.

 

“Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!” The Headmaster practically shooed them out of the Hall.

 

“First year Slytherins! Follow me please!” A girl with a silver P badge called down the table. Hermione stood up after Daphne and the two linked arms. As the first years followed the prefect, said prefect began her speech.

 

“Alright firsties, listen up! My name is Gemma Farley and I’m your fifth year female prefect. I know most of you have grown up knowing you’d be sorted into Slytherin, but let me tell you some things you might not already know. You’ve probably heard rumours people spread about Slytherin house. Stuff like we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous pure-blood wizard, and other rubbish like that.

 

“You don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses, though. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one half-blood or lower grandparent.

 

“Here’s the little-known fact that I was hinting at earlier and the other three houses don’t like to bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth?” Gemma paused, waiting for the first year’s responses. Hermione looked around and saw Daphne, Theo, Pansy, and Draco all raising an eyebrow at the prefect.

 

“I didn’t think so,” she continued. “But that’s enough about what we’re not. Let’s talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin. We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, because of our Dark reputation, but you know what? It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side and all. Chuck out a few hints that you’ve got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your shit.

 

“But we’re not bad people. We’re like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood. For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw. Apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks, whereas we Slytherins are brothers. The corridors of Hogwarts can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you’ll be glad you’ve got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school.

 

“And as far as we’re concerned, once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours – one of the elite. Because you know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? The seeds of greatness. You’ve been chosen by this house because you’ve got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word. Yes it’s true, you might see a couple of people hanging around the common room that you might not think are destined for anything special but keep that to yourself. If the Sorting Hat put them in here, there’s something great about them, and don’t forget it.

 

“Speaking of people who aren’t destined for greatness, I haven’t mentioned the Gryffindors. Now, a lot of people say that Slytherins and Gryffindors represent two sides of the same coin. Personally, I think Gryffindors are nothing more than wannabe Slytherins. Mind you, some people say that Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor prized the same kinds of students, so perhaps we are more similar than we like to think. But that doesn’t mean that we cosy up with Gryffindors. They like beating us only slightly less than we like beating them.” At this, Hermione smirked alongside her classmates.

 

“A few more things you’ll need to know: our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him, he might sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don’t ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn’t like it. The password to the common room changes every fortnight. Keep an eye on the noticeboard near the entrance. Never tell anyone from another house our password. No outsider has entered it for more than seven centuries. The password for now is ‘Pureblood’. Be sure to remember it, and don’t ever tell another house,” Gemma instructed.

 

The group had reached a blank stretch of the wall.

 

“If you look closely, there’s faint engravings of snakes on the wall that signals where the common room entrance is.” Gemma said, pointing the engravings out to the first years, before turning and muttering the password.

 

Part of the wall slid in and over, revealing the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room.

 

It was enchanting.

 

From the entrance, Hermione could see at least three fireplaces with sofas and coffee tables throughout the main room. There were four archways/doorways, two of which had staircases. The other two led to two separate rooms.

 

The first room had walls made of glass with seats in the windows looking out to somewhere - it was dark and hard to see, she’d have to look thoroughly tomorrow. The second room had a long dining table with what looked to be green velvet lined chairs around - there were a handful of older students sitting around the girl at the head of the table.

 

There was also a balcony surrounding the main room, with two staircases leading up to them on the landing where the entrance was, with bookshelves lining the walls of said balcony. The floor lamps, wall sconces and chandeliers were bright enough to see but dim enough to not strain one's eyes too much, with a slight green tinge to them.

 

Overall, the Slytherin Common Room was simultaneously cozy and exquisite and Hermione could imagine this very easily becoming her home.

 

“Alright first years, come sit near this fireplace while we wait for our Head of House to arrive and give us the beginning of the year speech.” Gemma instructed. She herded the first years to one of the fireplaces Hermione had seen, where there were surprisingly no older students.

 

“If you’re wondering why this lounge is empty, the older students are instructed to leave one fireplace empty for the first years on the first night, every year. I believe the sixth and seventh year courts use this fireplace. They’re in the meeting room for the moment, however, until our Head gets here.” Gemma explained.

 

_‘That’s the second time I’ve heard court being used. Greengrass said it at Sorting, and Farley said it just now. Do they mean royal courts?’_

 

It didn’t take long for the entrance to the Common Room to open again. This time, two adults - presumably Professors - entered the Common Room. Almost inunison, the older Slytherin students walked to where the first years were sitting, and gathered around.

 

“Well done, Prefect Farley. You gave them the speech on the walk from the Great Hall, yes?” The male Professor with long black hair asked.

 

“Yes sir, I did.” Gemma replied. The man nodded once and Gemma moved to join the other students with silver P’s pinned to their robes.

 

“Welcome… To Slytherin. For those few who… do not know who I am, my name is Professor Snape. With me is Professor Sinistra. I am your Head of House, and the Potions Master at this… fine… institution. Professor Sinistra is the only other Slytherin alumni… and teaches astronomy.” Professor Snape began his speech, and started pacing the floor in front of the students with his robes billowing behind him.

 

“Most of the other Houses do not have rules that they follow, I believe the only other House with rules such as ours is Ravenclaw, if only so Professor Flitwick can ensure his ravens do not become sleep deprived. As such, the first rule of Slytherin House is as follows: we protect our own. Keep your squabbles inside the Common Room, no matter what. The other Houses would jump at the chance to divide us, to weaken us. We cannot let that happen. You must present a united front when facing the rest of this school. Especially where our illustrious Headmaster can see.

 

“Our second rule is this: Don’t get caught. Whether that be pranks, retribution, or anything else you would get in trouble for. Do _not_ get caught. However, many of the older students can tell you that if you do get caught - find a way to blame another House. After all, a good scapegoat is nearly as welcome as a solution to the problem.

 

“The next few rules aren’t technically rules, however you should treat them as so because they are in place to help you flourish and grow as students. The third rule is curfew, and the fourth is lights out. You may not leave the Common Room after curfew, however you may stay awake until lights out.

 

“Curfew for first and second years is 9:00pm, an hour after dinner is finished. Lights out for this group is 9:30pm. Third and fourth years? Your curfew is 9:30pm, with lights out being 10:00pm. Fifth and sixth years, your curfew is 10:30pm with lights out at 11:00pm and seventh years, your curfew is 11:30, lights out is midnight.

 

“The prefects are, of course, permitted to break curfew and lights out _only_ when they have patrol. Quidditch try-outs will be posted on the noticeboard by the entrance after Mr. Flint and I speak together. Mr. Flint is the Quidditch Captain this year as Mr. Higgs opted out to focus on his N.E.W.T.s year. With any luck, Mr. Flint will help us maintain our success.

 

“First years may not try-out to be apart of the active team, however if you wish to watch and prepare yourself for the next year, you may do so. Professor Sinistra, is there anything I have missed?” Professor Snape turned to his colleague.

 

“Aside from if there’s anything personal you wish to address, you may come to myself or your Head of House, I think that’s it. Are there any questions?” Professor Sinistra asked the group, mostly looking at the first years.

 

Hermione looked around and raised her hand.

 

“Miss… Granger, was it?” Professor Snape asked. Hermione nodded.

 

“So on the train I sat with Draco, Theo, Zabini, Parkinson, Greengrass, Davis, Crabbe, and Goyle. During sorting Greengrass mentioned having a… full court… I think it was, after Bulstrode was sorted into Slytherin. When Prefect Farley was showing us the Common Room, she also mentioned courts. Specifically the sixth and seventh year courts sitting in the meeting room to wait for you, Professor. The only thing I could think of were the types of court that royal families have that live in their castle and sometimes give advice. Is that the kind of court they were both talking about, sir?” Hermione asked.

 

Professor Snape looked vaguely impressed.

 

“You are our resident muggleborn, correct, Miss Granger?” he asked.

 

“I am, sir.” Hermione confirmed, jutting her chin out slightly. She saw Daphne smirk at her movement.

 

“Hmm… Well, your conclusions are correct. Salazar Slytherin started the House Hierarchy as a way of keeping order to his House. As such, each year has a Prince and Princess that are the leaders of their year. Very seldomly do the two share courts. Courts are made up of the closest friends of the Prince and Princess. First years do not normally arrive with the dynamic in place, however from what I saw at the feast… it seems that Mr. Malfoy and Miss Greengrass are your elected Prince and Princess. This, of course, can change between now and Yule, which is our next official House Meeting.

 

“Second through Fourth years tend to keep the same Prince and Princess they elected during their first years, and the only time that changes is if there is a different student elected Prefect in their fifth year. Our prefects are automatically Prince and Princess, and if we have a Head Boy or Head Girl, they are the King or Queen.

 

“Obviously, if we have a direct heir of Salazar Slytherin himself, they are automatically Prince or Princess until their sixth year, where they become King or Queen. The list of the hierarchy officials is posted next to the doors of the meeting room. For any further questions, you may address them to our Prefects or Head Girl, if she has the time.” Professor Snape answered.

 

“If there are no further questions, Professor Sinistra and I will be taking our leave to meet with the Princes and Princesses. First years, you have until Yule to formally elect your leaders. When our Yule House meeting comes around, then your leaders will partake in it, but for now it is time for you to settle into your dorms. Prefects Farley and Spiers will take the first year girls and boys respectively to their dorms.

 

“The time is 8:47pm. If there is time before lights out, first years you may use this lounge again tonight to socialize. If there is not, go straight to bed. You will have time to explore the Common Room and the school tomorrow.” Professor Snape dismissed his students. Hermione and the rest of the first year girls followed Prefect Farley to their dorm room.

 

The room itself was rectangular. The beds lined one wall, and the opposite wall was made entirely of glass. The beds _seemed_ to be twin size, with emerald green velvet drapes around them. Each bed also had a bedside table, a desk with shelves built into the wall above it, and a wardrobe. Hermione’s trunk was at the foot of the bed furthest from the door. She was next to Tracey Davis. Daphne Greengrass’ bed was next, then it was Pansy Parkinson, and Millicent Bulstrode, who was closest to the door.

 

“Alright girls this is you. The older you get, the less roommates you have. I think second and third years have two rooms for the whole year, fourth and fifth years get three rooms. Sixth years are divided into pairs, and seventh years get to choose whether they want roommates or not. Most stick to pairs, while others choose to have their own rooms, however, it’s mostly the prefects and the Head Boy and Girl who get that privilege of single rooms.” Gemma explained. Hermione nodded absentmindedly. It made sense after all. The more responsible you are, the more privileges you got.

 

“Right, well I’ve got to go to the meeting, see you girls in the morning.” Gemma said, walking back down to the Common Room.

 

“Do any of you know how they decide who’s prefect or Head Girl?” Hermione asked casually.

 

“I think it has to do with our marks and what our class rank is? I mean that makes the most sense…” Pansy said, trailing off at the end and looking to the other girls. Daphne nodded in agreement.

 

“Yes I think that’s what Mother said to me. I think behaviour and what classes we’re taking has to do with it as well.” Daphne replied. Hermione nodded absentmindedly and opened the curtains of her bed.

 

“So uh… I’m assuming there’s some sort of… undetectable extension charm on our beds? Because we seem to have double beds, not twin.” Hermione said aloud, turning her head to the right to look at the other girls, who also opened their curtains.

 

“Yeah, Mother mentioned something like this. Although not outright like she did the sorting ceremony.” Pansy replied.

 

“Well, I’m finished. It’s only 9:05. Shall we move back to the Common Room?” Daphne asked, looking at the girls.

 

“Yeah, I’ve just finished up too.” Tracey replied.

 

“Same here.” Millicent said.

 

“Let’s go then, ladies. Our gentlemen await.” Daphne said, offering her arm to Tracey. Tracey accepted it and giggled, causing the other girls to start laughing too. The five girls left their dorm and headed back downstairs, where they saw the boys sitting at their lounge for the evening.

 

“So ladies, were there any troubles getting unpacked?” Blaise asked from where he sat on the sofa with Draco, arm attempting to be draped over the back.

 

“Nope, none.” Daphne replied, smiling charmingly.

 

“Does your dorm have a glass wall as well?” Theo asked, patting the seat next to him for Daphne to sit, which she did.

 

“Yes actually, I think it looks out to the Black Lake.” Pansy replied, taking a seat next to Draco and Blaise on the sofa.

 

“ _That_ makes sense. I think I’ll ask Farley about that in the morning.” Hermione commented, sitting between Pansy and Blaise, leaving Tracey to sit on the full sized sofa next to Gregory. Millicent sat on the single chair across from Vincent.

 

“Hey Hermione, I meant to ask earlier, but are you worried about any of the upper years teasing you about being a muggle-born?” Tracey asked.

 

“I am a little, but I was teased in muggle school, so it wouldn’t be anything new. But I do like to think that you’re all my friends, which is something I didn’t have before.” Hermione replied. “I know I only just met you all, except for Draco and Theo, whom I met at Diagon, but I would like for you all to call me Hermione.”

 

“I’d be happy to, Hermione, but only if you call me Pansy as well.” Pansy requested, smiling warmly at the girl.

 

“Call me Daphne, Hermione.”

 

“Ehhh, you can call me Blaise if you want, it’s no problem with me.”

 

“Vincent, then.”

 

“My name’s Gregory.”

 

“Of course you can call me Tracey, Hermione!”

 

“I’d like to get to know you more, Granger, before I call you by your given name. If that’s all right?” Millicent asked.

 

Hermione nodded, “Of course, Bulstrode.”

 

“Excellent, we’re all friends now.” Draco declared, “I think we’ve discovered our court, guys. Possibly Longbottom, too, if the Gryffindors give him too hard of a time.”

 

“Didn’t Professor Snape say that it was uncommon for the Prince and Princess of the same year to hold the same court? And here we are, with practically our entire class as court.” Daphne replied.

 

“I think you’re right, Daph. Next thing we know one of us’ll wind up being Slytherin’s direct heir.” Theo said, laughing slightly. The rest of the first years laughed too, not realizing the image they made to the rest of Slytherin. Eventually, the grandfather clock chimed 9:30pm and the first years made their way back to the dorms.

 

“Goodnight, ladies!” Daphne called before closing the curtains of her bed.

 

“Goodnight!” The rest of the first years called, doing the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about this chapter being so long, I just kept writing and couldn't find a decent place to stop before where I did. Let me know what you thought of it, though! and what I could do better! :)


	3. Mabon, Samhain, and the History of Blood-Traitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woahhhh how long's it been, gang? Almost four months? I apologize immensely for the long wait, school is such a drag but I only have 6 more weeks left and then hopefully will have more time on my hands to write. I also have planned the chapters for the rest of the first book, so hopefully, hopefully, it won't take as long to continue the next chapters. don't worry tho I haven't abandoned you all.

 

**Chapter 3: Mabon, Samhain, and the History of Blood-Traitors**

_“Thoughts”_ || “Speaking” || **_Letters_** || _Flashbacks_

 

 

 

 _Caim (n.)_  
_Sanctuary; an invisible circle of protection, drawn around the body with the hand, to remind one of being safe and loved_

 

 

 

 

Prefect Farley returned that morning and was pleasantly surprised. Instead of entering a room of sleeping pre-teens like she expected, all the girls were awake and sat together on three of their beds with the curtains wide open. They were looking out through the glass window that showed them the depths of the Black Lake.

 

“Good morning ladies, are you all ready to head out to breakfast?” Farley asked, walking over to stand near the two beds.

 

“I think so. Girls? Are you all ready?” Daphne replied, turning to ask her companions.

 

“Daph, we’re in our night clothes,” Tracey answered, giggling slightly.

 

“Oh right. Let’s get dressed, then, and head to the Common Room to wait for the boys.” Daphne suggested, already getting up from her bed to get dressed.

 

After all the girls made sure they looked presentable - which took much longer than Hermione was accustomed to, but her roommates are the daughters of rich pureblood families with reputations to uphold - Prefect Farley led them down the corridor back into the Common Room. Hermione brought Crookshanks with her.

 

“I spoke with Prefect Spiers last night after you lot went to bed and he’s going to bring the boys into the Lake room when they wake up - which should be soon - most first years tend to wake up around the same time at the beginning of term. Probably due to nerves or the excitement of your first night at Hogwarts.” Farley explained to the first year girls. “Coincidentally, we only need to speak to your potential Court members, so it’s a good thing that it’s all of you at the moment, that way we won’t need to repeat anything once you’ve all settled and decided your Court.”

 

Prefect Farley missed the exchanged looks between the girls when she emphasized potential.

 

“So what was that… Lake room…? that you mentioned?” Bulstrode asked, voluntarily changing the topic of discussion.

 

“It’s one of the two rooms we have here that connect to the Common Room. The Lake room’s walls are entirely glass, with insulating charms to keep the heat created by the small bonfire in the middle of the room and in the daytime the Lake room is a really good room to just relax in.

 

“Most of the younger students like to sit on one of the window seats or a seat around the bonfire and read a book or draw, or do their homework at one of the desks fitted between the window seats,” Farley explained. “The first years tend to spend most of their time either in the window room or in their ‘court room’, mostly because there isn’t any room in the Common Room to host your first-year court.”

 

She opened the double doors into the window room and the group saw that it was empty.

 

“Alright, go ahead and pick a few seats to relax on while we wait for Spiers to bring in the boys. Then we’ll discuss the first year courts’ room I mentioned earlier and a few secret passageways to get from the dungeons to the rest of the school.” Farley instructed, walking down into the bonfire area and taking a seat on the built-in sofas.

 

Hermione took this time to wander around the room, looking at the Black Lake through each of the windows before she settled on sitting in the bay window seat in the middle with Crookshanks in her lap. Daphne and Tracey picked one of the other window seats to share, while Pansy and Millicent took another one to share as well. The seats were pretty big and the girls pretty small in comparison.

 

A dark shadow moved past the windows and the girls all gasped when it passed them.

 

“What was that shadow?!” Hermione asked, turning to look at Prefect Farley.

 

“That was probably the Giant Squid. He likes the attention he gets when he swims around our common room.” Farley replied, grinning.

 

The doors opened again and Prefect Spiers led the first year boys into the room.

 

“Did you explain the first year room yet Farley?” Spiers asked, leading the boys to where the girls were sitting.

 

“No, I was waiting for you, Spiers. Like we talked about last night, remember?” Farley replied, rather cooly in Hermione’s opinion - reminding her of the fact that it’s uncommon for each year’s leaders to be friends - before turning to address the whole group.

 

“Alright, first years, why don’t you all come sit around the bonfire so we can give you some advice about life at Hogwarts that Professor Snape didn’t go over,” Spiers instructed, waving them into the lowered lounge surrounding the bonfire.

 

According to Prefects Farley and Spiers, the Hogwarts Castle is a sentient being. A sentient being with a sense of humor, to be precise, because among the one hundred and forty-two staircases - all of which move throughout the day from corridor to corridor - there were some that led somewhere completely different on certain days of the week and some that even had a vanishing step that you needed to jump over.

 

The doors aren’t any better. Some won’t open unless you ask politely or tickle them in exactly the right spot, and some doors aren’t actually doors at all, just portions of the wall pretending to be doors.

 

Apart from the trick doors and staircases, there are also many ghosts, more than just the handful that appeared in the Entrance Hall before the sorting, as well as a poltergeist that haunts the castle. Hermione was happy to hear that the poltergeist didn’t bother the Slytherin students as much as the other Houses, if only because their house ghost is the only one that Peeves the Poltergeist will ever listen to.

 

The Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch, is another problem that the rest of the school deals with way more than Slytherin. Mr Filch also has a cat named Mrs Norris that enjoys exploring the dungeons on her own. Most of the time, however, the Slytherin students that bring their own pet cats give her treats when they see her, so she doesn’t bother them at all that much.

 

Spiers told them that one of the biggest bets within Slytherin House is whether or not Professor Snape has an agreement with Mr Filch to stay out of the dungeons. Farley made sure to inform the first years that betting is only open to third years and above, however, but as long as they don’t get caught, they could ask any older student to place bets for them.

 

“Don’t be surprised if they ask for a favour in return though.” Spiers had commented. “After all, nothing in the world is free.”

 

They were then shown a hidden passageway that leads straight to the designated first years' court’s room located on the third basement level, two floors above the Slytherin Common Room and three floors below the Great Hall. From their court’s room’s floor, there was another secret passageway that leads to the Entrance Hall.

 

* * *

 

  
“What’re the odds there’s more secret passageways that lead to every floor and they just want us to find them ourselves?” Theo asked, plopping down on the bench next to Blaise and across from Hermione, who had Crookshanks in her lap and was feeding him bits of sausage.

 

They were in the Great Hall to eat breakfast.

 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were. It’s not very determined and ambitious to be handed everything in life, now is it?” Daphne replied nonchalantly from where she sat on the other side of Blaise, pouring herself some tea.

 

“No, it’s not. Shall we all go passageway hunting while Blaise and Hermione get Longbottom after breakfast and all meet up afterwards at the room Farley and Spiers showed us?” Pansy suggested, turning away from her conversation with Millicent and Tracey. She was putting jam on a freshly buttered scone.

 

“Pansy I think that’s an excellent idea,” Draco said from next to Hermione. “Blaise, Hermione. If you can’t find Longbottom after… let’s say an hour, just come back to the court’s room. Daphne and I will start writing the letters to the Board of Governors with or without him, though I think it’ll be harder to get anything done about it without his help.”

 

“Yeah, alright.” Hermione said at the same time Blaise said, “Sounds like a plan.”

 

Draco nodded absentmindedly and looked to be deep in thought for a moment. “Greg, can you go with them to look for Longbottom? Just in case,” he asked.

 

“Yeah, course I can,” Greg replied. Draco nodded and the group ate the rest of their meals in a comfortable silence. 

 

* * *

 

  
“Longbottom!” “Neville!” Blaise and Hermione shouted in unison, the two of them walking swiftly towards the boy mentioned, with Gregory Goyle walking menacingly behind them. The trio had been looking for Neville for roughly half an hour since they had finished eating breakfast.

 

“Oh, hey guys. Is there something wrong?” Neville asked, turning towards the trio of students he made friends with on the train ride to Hogwarts. He seemed sceptical, Hermione noticed.

 

“Not wrong per se, but you should still come with us. Better to say this in more… pleasant company.” Blaise muttered, nodding towards the cluster of first-year Gryffindors that had appeared and started to speed walk towards them. Greg growled slightly in annoyance and Hermione rolled her eyes, sighing. Neville turned his head and, upon seeing his House-mates, nodded his agreement. The quartet walked through the courtyard, back towards the castle. The group of first-year Gryffindors didn’t bother to follow them.

 

“There’s an abandoned classroom closer towards the dungeons we’re going to… it’s closer to the Hufflepuff level and the kitchens than it is our Common Room or Professor Snape’s classroom, but it still counts as Slytherin territory. Our prefects told us it’s the meeting room for the first year Slytherin court.” Hermione rambled to the Gryffindor in their company, holding Crookshanks in her arms while they were walking. Neville had initially looked like he understood, but with that last comment, he looked confused again.

 

“Alright ‘Mione, don’t give all our secrets to the rival house.” Blaise laughed for a split second and then wiped the smile off of his face. He and Greg nodded to each other.

 

“We’re here,” Blaise said sternly. Hermione giggled and Greg opened the door for them.

 

Daphne looked up when the door opened, “Oh good, you found him.”

 

“Longbottom, could you come here, please? We need to discuss what the Headmaster said last night and what we’re going to do about it.” Draco piped up from where he stood next to Daphne. Neville looked a bit apprehensive.

 

“Go on Neville, they won’t bite. You sat with all of us yesterday, remember?” Hermione reassured him when she saw his expression.

 

Draco and Daphne were seated at an old Professor’s desk next to the large window and seemed to have been looking over a piece of parchment.

 

“They’ll explain what they want to do, Longbottom,” Blaise said. Greg walked in and closed the door behind him. Hermione set Crookshanks down on the floor and he immediately walked into the lounge room.

 

Hermione took that moment to look over the room the upper-years told them about and shown them the door to earlier in the morning. It was obviously an abandoned classroom, but the first year courts had clearly added their own touches to the room over the years. There were only about 10 student desks left in the room, as well as the one for the Professor. Those desks were spread haphazardly around the open space. The Professor’s desk was in front of the large window that took up most of one wall. An archway where the classroom office door would have been was currently separating the desks from a smaller room.

 

In the Professor’s office-turned-lounge was a fireplace and a sitting area. A three-seater sofa, a few armchairs, and a loveseat made up the sitting area around the fireplace, which was where the other first years were sitting. There was a plush, emerald green area rug covering the entire lounge area within the first year court’s room and there were large, half-filled bookshelves lining the wall surrounding the fireplace. The rest of the walls that didn’t have a window, doorway, bookcase, or fireplace were bare, however.

 

  

Hermione, Gregory, and Blaise made their way to the lounge.

  

 

“This room isn’t that bad, just lacks our personal touch. Do you think we could keep it, or a room similar, for all seven years?” Blaise asked, throwing himself on the three-seater sofa between Tracey and Theo. Pansy and Millie sat on the loveseat while Vince sat in one of the three armchairs. Hermione and Greg sat in the two empty armchairs. A log crackled in the fireplace and basked everyone in a warm light. Crookshanks laid on the rug in front of the fire.

 

“I don’t think anybody’s done that before, but if they have then certainly not recent enough for anyone but the staff to remember. Personally, I’d rather be closer to our Common Room than this… But if we have Longbottom here too, and having a Gryffindor in a Slytherin Court hasn’t been done before either, it’s not like we can bring him into the Common Room.” Theo replied, poking Blaise in the side with the quill in his hand. He had partly landed on Theo when he jumped on the sofa and Theo had been writing something down.

 

“Considering the fact that our court has already been pretty much established and that it’s literally our entire year, plus Longbottom, I think it’s a reasonable request to have this room become our permanent lounge, at least until fifth year when we have prefects in our midst,” Pansy said, slowly raising an eyebrow at the boys’ antics. “What do the rest of you think?”

 

“Well, I like the idea. But we can’t stay here and isolate ourselves from the rest of our House.” Millicent said somewhat shyly. Hermione nodded.

 

“My thoughts exactly, Bulstrode.” She commented.

 

“While I agree with that we could still use this room after we’re finished with our first year, we do still need to establish ourselves amongst our older house-mates. Whether this can be used as a meeting room of sorts, or our year group’s “get-me-the-bloody-hell-away-from-everyone-and-everything” room, I dunno. But yes, we could definitely make use of it because our court is our entire year in Slytherin and we’ll probably be bringing in the other Houses in the future.” Tracey said. Pansy and Blaise nodded.

 

“So what I’m hearing is yes, we should ask Professor Snape if we can use this room after our first year is over?” Blaise asked.

 

“We’ll ask him at the next House Meeting, that way he has time to think about it.” Pansy declared with a touch of finality in her tone. Theo set his quill and book on the side table next to him and handed the parchment to Blaise and Tracey to read over.

 

“Yeah, I like this. We should add a notice board to the room.” Blaise commented. Tracey passed the parchment to Hermione, who was sitting in the armchair closest to them.

 

Theo had written down a to-do list of sorts, and “Ask Prfsr. Snape about permanent residency of our year’s court” was written at the top.

 

“This is a really good idea, so is having a to-do list. We’ll have an agenda of sorts, I suppose then?” Hermione asked, passing the parchment to Millicent and Pansy to read over as well. That was just in time as Crookshanks had decided to jump onto Hermione’s lap right when she settled back into her seat.

 

“We have to. Every year in Slytherin has had some sort of agenda or goal. We need to figure ours out, but securing this room could be a start.” Pansy replied and glanced at where Neville, Daphne, and Draco seemed to be finishing up their own meeting. “I think they’ve finished.” The cluster of Slytherin first years looked over and saw Draco, Daphne, and Neville making their way over, looking smug and proud of themselves. Even Neville had a small smirk on his face.

 

“We just need to send the letters off, and then the Board of School Governors will know about our illustrious Headmaster’s death corridor. I think we need more chairs in here, though.” Daphne sneered, standing next to Hermione’s armchair. “What did you guys talk about?”

 

“We’re going to ask Professor Snape about making this lounge our permanent one, considering no other Slytherin court is made up of their entire year. We barely even fit in this room as it is - imagine us trying to squeeze into one of the lounges in the Common Room. _And_ Longbottom is also a member of our court, so we can’t have it be in the Common Room anyways, not yet at least.” Theo said, and having gotten his parchment back from Draco, who had taken it from Vince and Greg, handed it to Daphne.

 

“We need a notice board, probably near the door - like we do in the Common Room,” Daphne commented after reading the parchment.

 

“That’s what Blaise said,” Pansy replied, chuckling slightly.

 

Theo grabbed his book and quill again and quickly wrote on another piece of parchment. That parchment said “Things To Acquire:” and had “notice board, more seating,” written down so far underneath.

 

“Is there anything else you can think of off the top of your head?” Theo asked the group.

 

“What about a tea cart?” Hermione asked. Her classmates looked at her confused. It must be a Muggle thing then. “It’s a sort of cupboard on wheels. We can have it as big or small as we need, but it should be able to hold a teapot, teacups, another pot or cup to hold milk or cream, and a small bowl to hold sugar cubes. And perhaps cakes or biscuits every now and then.”

 

“Oooh! That’s a smart idea! That way if we’re in here for a while we won’t need to send somebody to the kitchens to get refreshments. I think it should have more than just tea though. Maybe coffee and pumpkin juice as well.” Tracey said excitedly. Theo and Blaise both nodded when she said coffee.

 

“Alright, does everybody like the idea of a tea station?” Draco asked, looking around at the court - his court, Hermione realized - with what looked to be a hint of pride in his expression. They all either nodded their agreement or vocalized it.

 

Theo wrote on the parchment again, this time adding ‘tea station’ to the list.

 

“Anything else?” He asked again, looking around.

 

“Do you think we could get a House-Elf to serve us?” Draco asked, looking thoughtful.

 

“If we get a house-elf, we wouldn’t need a tea cart here all the time. We could just call for the elf and have them bring us the cart - or at least the stuff to go on the cart.” Daphne said.

 

“That’s a good idea, something else to ask Professor Snape about at the Yule Meeting.” Blaise piped up, “We should come up with roles for those of us who aren’t the Prince and Princess.”

 

“I’ve already started that. I put myself and ‘Mione as court scribes because we’ll both be spending more time each with Draco and Daphne respectively and we’ll be able to keep note of both leaders at once. Vince and Greg can be bodyguards because we’re bound to piss off some people who wouldn’t stop themselves from trying to physically hurt us - probably the Gryffindors in our year, if I’m being honest - and who would be stupid enough to try and fight Vince and Greg? I mean come on. Pansy is going to be our key into the infamous Hogwarts rumor mill and Blaise, Millicent, and Tracey can deal with crowd control, but that’s more for when we have prefects, or our agenda has been established and other students have requests for our year’s leaders.

 

“If Longbottom is staying as a member of our court he can be our Ambassador for Gryffindor House, and I think we should try and contact Hannah Abbott, I know she’s one of the few listed in the Directory that doesn’t come from a Slytherin family. And, if they think they’re up for it, Blaise and Pansy can also be our main masterminds behind any operations we need to accomplish. Blaise has already sort of begun that role, with asking about us keeping this room for all seven years.” Theo said, holding up another parchment - presumably the one he was writing on before Hermione and Blaise arrived with Neville.

 

“I like it. Very efficient.” Draco said, looking impressed with his friend.

 

“There isn’t anybody from the directory in Ravenclaw, and we won’t have connections until Luna arrives, who should we contact in our year?” he said suddenly.

 

“I can try and speak to Padma Patil. When Father’s had them over for business dinners I always got along better with her than Parvati.” Pansy replied. Draco nodded his agreement.

 

“Sounds good to me. Let’s wait until tomorrow for that tho, Pans. We got Longbottom yesterday, let’s try and find Abbott and Macmillan today.” he suggested.

 

Somewhere in the castle, a clock tower chimed 10, startling the first years.

 

“Wow, we’ve already spent almost half an hour here. It hasn’t felt that long.” Neville muttered.

 

There was a brief moment of silence that was broken by the main door to the court’s room being slammed open. Loud footsteps could be heard walking across the abandoned classroom towards the lounge. Hermione held Crookshanks tight in anticipation. Two lanky red-head Gryffindors emerged in the doorway separating the lounge from the classroom.

 

“Lookie here, Gred. Ickle baby Neville Longbottom is fraternizing with the enemy! And the ickle firstie snakes don’t seem to be biting him!” The first one who stood on the left-hand side spoke.

 

 

Draco scoffed.

 

  

“Ugh. Weasleys.” He muttered, rolling his eyes.

 

“Now, now, young Malfoy, just because our fathers are carrying on the blood feud doesn’t mean the three of us have to, you can keep it going with Ronnikins. We were almost put in Slytherin ourselves, but we both had to beg the Sorting Hat to put us with our brothers.” The other one said, putting an old piece of parchment in his robes as he spoke. Well, that information was certainly shocking.

 

“Gred, we should probably -” The same twin spoke first again.

 

“-Introduce ourselves? You read my mind, Forge.” The other one finished the sentence.

 

“So do all magical twins do that, or is it just them?” Hermione asked the room. Blaise snorted in amusement.

 

“Oh, Granger. Granger, Granger, Granger. How easy you make it to forget you’re muggle-born, and then you remind us all by asking questions like that.” Pansy crooned. “They’re the infamous Weasley Twins - the Terrors as my brother informed me the upper years call them. They prank everyone in the school and seem to have blackmail on everybody. The Patil twins don’t speak like that, so I’m fairly certain that it’s just the two of them that do it, presumably to throw people off their trails.”

 

“I’m sorry but did you also say that the two of you were almost Slytherin students?” Draco asked, cocking an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, apparently our mischievousness -” Right twin - Gred? - started speaking.

 

“- was cunning enough, and our determination to -” Left twin picked up the sentence from where door twin left it.

 

“- reach our goal of owning our own -” Only to hand it back to the other twin again.

 

“-joke shop was ambitious enough -” Back to the second twin.

 

“- for the hat to seriously consider putting us in Slytherin.” They finished the sentence together.

 

 

Watching the two of them was like watching a tennis match.

  

 

“Merlin, the two of you are going to give me a neck ache,” Tracey complained from the sofa, rubbing her eyes. The twins grinned at her.

 

“I’m sure we could figure out another way to give you a neck ache,” Gred said, smirking.

 

“One that doesn’t include talking.” Forge said right after, smirking as well.

 

“Great well now the two of you remind me of Draco and Theodore, smirking like that.” Daphne said, rolling her eyes, “If you don’t have anything productive to say to us, please leave immediately.”

 

“Well actually…” They changed it up and Forge started speaking this time, at least Hermione thought they did.

 

“We were wondering -” Back to Gred.

 

“- just what exactly is this room?” and Forge ended the question.

 

“None of your business. Now leave.” Draco said, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“Touchy, touchy Young Malfoy,” Gred said, tsking the first year.

 

“No matter, we’ll figure it out one of these days.” Forge piped up.

  

 

They left the room with dramatic bows. 

 

 

“What are their names?” Hermione asked, “because I’m certain it isn’t Gred and Forge.”

 

“No, they’re Fred and George Weasley.” Neville replied, “They have a younger brother in our year named Ronald, or Ron - they call him Ronnikins though and it annoys the hell out of him - he’s the one you argued with last night before sorting, Hermione.”

 

“Ohh, the Potter-lover,” Hermione commented flatly. Draco snorted.

 

“That’s one way to put it. The whole family is full of Dumbledore/Potter lovers - I’m sure of it.” He sneered, “They’re all blood traitors.”

 

Something in Hermione’s brain clicked and she suddenly remembered one of the questions she forgot to ask Theo and Draco before term started.

 

“Right, so what does blood traitor mean? I figure mudblood is just a really rude way of saying Muggleborn, but I’m clueless about the meaning behind blood traitor,” Hermione asked, turning to the group of pureblood children.

 

 

Draco and Theo sighed simultaneously.

 

 

Blaise snorted at their reaction.

 

 

“Might as well get comfortable, ‘Mione. Draco’s very passionate about this and it’s begun to rub off on Theo,” Blaise cut in before the boys got started. Draco and Theo shot identical glares in Blaise’s direction, making everyone laugh or snort in amusement.

 

“Way back in the past, before the time of Dumbledore, the pureblood families all used to celebrate the Olde Holidays that make up the wheel of the year - Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Samhain, etc - as a thank you to Lady Magic - as literally everything that we are is because of her.

 

“But then Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald back in ‘45 and everyone hailed him a hero. And when he chastised the Olde religions and branded everyone who celebrated them as Evile? Well, the Weasley’s were among the first to join him - thus abandoning and betraying the very beliefs that make us wizards and witches and forcing the remaining traditional families to coin the term blood-traitors.” Draco explained sullenly. It must be difficult to talk about…

 

“The term mudblood has a similar history, actually. The traditionalists were so pissed off that their former allies were trying to change and adapt their world - our world, with all of our culture and history - to keep the muggle-borns happy - and really, banning our Olde Holidays is really just the tip of the iceberg - that they started called the muggle-borns mudbloods. Because in their eyes, the muggle-borns were muddying up our way of life by not wanting to learn and adapt to our culture when entering our world.” Theo said afterwards.

 

“Ohh so there’s an entire history of why all this conflict is happening within politics. I’m guessing that your Dark Lord wants, I mean wanted, to completely separate the two worlds to keep the wizarding culture and traditions alive?” Hermione asked. Blaise seemed to freeze in his seat when Hermione corrected herself.

 

“Yes, I think I remember Mother saying that to Father after she recovered her interview notes from when she spoke to him before his downfall. She also found out that he wanted the Ministry to bring in the muggle-borns when they have their first bouts of accidental magic, because of his own upbringing as well as the upbringing of some of his followers who had muggle parents or guardians.” Daphne replied, nodding absentmindedly.

 

“Hermione?” Blaise asked, turning to face her, looking thoughtful.

 

“Yes, Blaise?” She answered, looking over at him.

 

“Why did you say that the Dark Lord wants to separate the two worlds completely? He’s dead.” Blaise inquired, tilting his head to the side.

 

“Well… there wasn’t a body. That was one of the only things I managed to wrap my head around in all of the books Draco and Theo recommended. When Potter supposedly defeated him - nobody mentions anyone finding the Dark Lord’s body, which means technically he’s just missing, not dead. Therefore, if he’s just missing then he still wants the worlds to be separate, even though he isn’t around to make that clear.” Hermione said.

 

“I… wonder if our parents have come up with that conclusion?” Draco asked, visibly stunned.

 

“Time to write more letters.” Daphne sighed, “I don’t think we’ll need you for those ones though, Longbottom.”

 

“Well… My Grandmother’s always had us celebrating the Olde holidays, but I don’t think she ever knew about the political pursuits of the ‘Dark Side’. She has said that the reason so many pureblood families are having squibs for children is because of Dumbledore, though.” Neville said somewhat quietly. “Also, you can all call me Neville. We’ve been to a lot of the same ‘Sacred 28’ functions together before our letters arrived, and we rode the train together, and just spent over an hour talking about politics. We’re friends, now.”

 

“I’ve never heard that theory before, Neville, can you explain it more, perhaps?” Theo asked, putting his glasses back on and grabbing his parchment and quill.

 

“Well, let me think a minute… Right. Well, Gran always made sure to start with why we have the rift between the ‘traditionalists’ and the muggle-born/Dumbledore loving ‘blood-traitors’. She said that when the division happened between the purebloods, the traditionalists were left to further their lines with only each other while those who deserted them had all the rest of the magical world to continue their lines. The traditionalists have been reduced to marrying their second, or even first, cousins, and because their blood is so close together they have a higher risk of having squibs for children and any children they do produce are weak when it comes to magical abilities and any family magicks will stay dormant.” Neville explained.

 

“Is that why, when Mother’s older sister Andromeda married a muggle-born, their daughter gained the Black family abilities of Metamorphmagus?” Draco asked.

 

“Exactly,” Neville replied, nodding his head.

 

“I’m going to assume that squibs are the opposite of muggle-borns?” Hermione asked.

 

“Yes. Squibs are children born to magical families who lack magic of their own,” Neville answered, “Back in the time of the Founders, up until the Ministry of Magic was fully set-up and functional and we had the Wizengamot to make our laws, purebloods used to give their squib children to muggle families so they were raised by the same kinds of people.”

 

“I wonder…” Hermione said thoughtfully, “Do you think there’s a chance that the children and grandchildren of those muggle-raised squibs are who made muggle-borns possible?”

 

“Maybe…” Neville replied, trailing off.

 

There was another moment of silence, briefly broken by Crookshanks yawning.

 

“Well, who else is excited for Mabon? My older brother Perseus says that while we’re discouraged from doing the actual blood ritual while at school, the Hogwarts house-elves always make a very traditionalistic feast for our table, and the Prefects have sometimes chaperoned the younger years on a walk through the forest to offer libations.” Pansy spoke up suddenly.

 

“Mother told me that Slytherin always participates in some way during every Olde Holiday. She said that during her seventh year, she and a few of her year-mates had gotten smudge sticks made of sage from the Hogwarts house-elves and they cleansed the Common Room and all the dorms on Mabon.” Daphne replied.

 

“When and what exactly is Mabon?” Hermione asked. “I couldn’t find a clear explanation…”

 

“It’s the Autumnal Equinox, essentially. Mabon is sometimes referred to as the Second Harvest Festival in the Wheel of the Year. This year Mabon falls on 23 September. The first harvest happens on 1 August and is called Lughnasadh, while the third harvest is called Samhain and on 31 October.” Theo explained somewhat quietly. Hermione heard Daphne take a deep breath and turned to look up at her.

 

“Basically what we do here in Slytherin, according to Mother at least, is we eat a traditional feast with all different loaves of bread, grains, seasonal fruits, and vegetables - apples, pomegranates, squash, pumpkin, root vegetables, etc. - and some dark fruity drink - the upper years have a sort of wine I think, we get non-alcoholic cider or juice. Then we each set aside some of what we picked from the feast so we can leave it out as an offering to whichever harvest gods and/or goddesses you identify closest to. I prefer the ancient Greek Pantheon, personally. I know Theo prefers the ancient Egyptians, and Draco and Pansy follow the Celtic gods/goddesses. Our prefects sometimes take us to the Forrest where there’s a clearing with a bunch of wand-wood trees where we do this offering.

 

“Sometimes, there’s been a couple smudge sticks used to cleanse the air of all its negative energy. Sage is very common for this, but sometimes there’s thistle or myrrh as well. The King and/or Queen hold a group prayer to thank Lady Magic for her gift and ask her to continue blessing us all, that’s before first year’s curfew so we can participate, and then we have a few minutes of silence to reflect on what we appreciate in our lives before going to bed.” Daphne explained, looking around the group.

 

“I wish Gryffindor did that, but considering my house is full of half-bloods, muggle-borns and those who the traditionalists call blood-traitors; there’s a very small chance of us doing that,” Neville said enviously.

 

Blaise yawned and stretched his arms out above his head, “Let’s go explore the castle or the courtyard for a bit before lunch? I’m starting to feel claustrophobic.”

 

The group agreed. After organizing the papers Theo had written and leaving them in a neat stack on the old Professor desk, they all left the room together. Hermione set Crookshanks on the floor of the dungeons and told him to go back to the Common Room.

 

“Hey, Longbottom? Where’s the Gryffindor Common Room? Ours is down here in the dungeons and Hufflepuff’s is right above this floor.” Theo asked as they all exited the old classroom.

 

“We’re in a tower at the top of the castle. I think Ravenclaw’s Common Room is in another tower, and Weasley the Prefect said that the Astronomy classroom, Divination classroom, and the Owlery make up the other three towers” Neville replied.

 

“Right. Are we taking the stairs or the passageway to the Entrance Hall?” Draco asked the group. “Hufflepuff’s Common Room and the Kitchens are right above us, and the trophy room and infirmary are just above them before you hit the ground floor with the Great Hall.”

 

“Passageway. Then we can work our way up the stairs and maybe find more secret passageways.” Blaise replied. There were a few nods of agreement from the first years.

 

“Everyone in agreement with taking this passageway?” Daphne asked, turning to look at everyone.

 

After a chorus of yeses, the group climbed through a secret door behind a tapestry and into the passageway to the Entrance Hall.

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
They discovered that there were many, many abandoned classrooms in the castle. In fact, there were more abandoned classrooms then there were rooms being used and when they discovered that the library was on the first floor, it took Vincent and Gregory to drag both Theo and Hermione away - the former due to his love of researching odd theories and concepts and the latter for her ability to absorb information like a sponge and love of reading because of it.

 

“You won’t be able to physically drag me away forever, you know,” Theo grumbled, wrenching his arm out of Vincent’s grip.

 

“But I can right now, so you just have to deal with it,” Vince replied, grinning at him. Theo tried shoving Vince in the shoulder but just succeeded in pushing himself away and making their rather large group of friends burst out in laughter.

 

The second floor held a girls bathroom that was haunted by a ghost of a girl 50 years dead, who died in that exact bathroom. Most of the elective courses held their classrooms on this floor, but considering that Hogwarts students don’t choose electives until their third year, that floor was declared pretty much useless by them.

 

The third floor was split in half for some reason. The right-hand side was the Headmaster’s death corridor and none of them were stupid enough to try and enter it. The left-hand side, however, was where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was hidden amongst the vast amount of empty ones. The fourth floor was a single corridor leading from a staircase on the left-hand side of the third corridor and filled with locked doors and a large Griffin statue at the very end of it. The hidden fourth-floor corridor looped around to the moving staircases where it met the one for the fifth floor had a rather large portrait that told them he was guarding the Prefect Bathroom and because they weren’t prefects, they needed to stop bothering him now.

 

The sixth floor was one of the more interesting floors if only because among all the abandoned classrooms, both the Charms corridor and the Transfiguration corridor were there along with the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Heads of House’s personal rooms.

 

The seventh floor was another long corridor with a few abandoned classrooms but the only exciting thing was a tapestry of what Theo said was Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet.

 

“Why the bloody hell do you know that, mate?” Blaise asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I found a directory of all the portraits in Hogwarts in my family’s library. I think there’s a hidden room up here somewhere too, but I don’t remember exactly. I’ll look over the break we have for Yule and tell you all when we get back.” was Theo’s answer.

 

“Bloody swot.” Blaise scoffed fondly.

 

 

* * *

 

 

By the time the group of first years made it back to the ground floor, it was time for lunch.

 

“Thank Merlin. I’m starving.” Greg groaned.

 

“Hear, hear!” Vince, Pansy, Daphne, Blaise, and Theo agreed.

 

Who knew plotting could be such hungry work, ‘cause I sure didn’t.

 

Before they could enter the Great Hall, Draco threw his arms out and stopped them all at the bottom of the stairs.

 

“Draco, what is it?” Hermione asked.

 

“What do you all think about eating near the Lake?” He asked with a cross between a grin and a smirk making its way across his face. “I mean. Longbottom can’t eat at our table, not yet at least. We’ll have to be seen talking to him and laughing with him more. And we certainly can’t eat at his table. Why don’t we all grab a plate of food each and make our way onto the grounds and have a little picnic?”

 

“Oh Draco, that’s a brilliant idea!” Daphne exclaimed, exchanging an excited look with Tracey.

 

“Alright, let’s go grab ourselves some food and meet outside in five minutes,” Draco instructed, letting his arms drop to his sides.

 

In five minutes exactly, the group of first years had managed to go into the Great Hall, grab their plates of food, and walk out again. Draco and Daphne had also explained to Prefects Spiers and Farley what they were doing, and Farley had conjured a large blanket for them to sit on outside and given it to Daphne. Draco had ended up carrying both his and Daphne’s plates of food while she held onto the blanket with both arms because it was so big.

 

Hermione handed her plate of food to Blaise and took the blanket from Daphne. Tracey, Pansy, and Millicent handed their plates to Neville, Theo, and Crabbe respectively in order to help Hermione lay the blanket down on the grass. They were gathered underneath a large willow tree - not the Whomping Willow, just a regular one - that was planted near the shores of the Black Lake. After a rather quick, yet quiet meal, the students set all their plates and utensils to the side of the blanket in a neat stack and started gossiping.

 

“Merlin, that was almost as good as the food the house-elves make at home,” said Draco, stretching his arms above his head for a moment before falling onto the blanket on his back. Everyone else took the cue and stretched out on the blanket as well. Hermione saw Theo pull Daphne towards himself and she, Daphne, rolled her eyes with a grin on her face and laid her head on his stomach.

 

“This is nice,” Hermione commented, laying next to Pansy and Millicent.

 

“This is wonderful.” Pansy agreed, “I can’t even think of anything that could ruin the moment.”

 

* * *

  

  
There was a loud shout off in the distance which interrupted the laughter that had been bubbling up from the group of first years laying beneath the tree. The group had elected to ignore the noise. Eventually, though, they could hear quite a few thudding footsteps coming towards them.

 

Theo sat up, looked around for the source of the noise and groaned. “Potter” was all he said.

 

“Merlin help us,” Blaise muttered, his eyes looking up at the tree trunk behind his head. Draco scrambled to his feet and leaned seemingly nonchalantly against the trunk of the tree.

 

“What the hell do you want, Potter?” Draco sneered the moment Potter, Weasley, and two other scrawny Gryffindor boys stopped running towards them. A group of Gryffindor girls quickly came up behind them as well, giggling amongst themselves.

 

“Neville, what are you hanging around this lot for? C’mon, mate, you’re supposed to stick with us. Your housemates.” The scrawny Irish boy said, completely ignoring Draco, while at the same time, trying to walk up to the blanket that the Slytherins, and Neville, were now sitting up on. Vince and Greg stood up and walked over to the front of the blanket with their arms crossed, making the Irish boy lose some of his confidence.

 

Neville stood up as well, but joined Draco at the tree and raised an eyebrow at the group of Gryffindors. “Maybe if you were all nicer and more accepting than this lot, I’d be more inclined to ‘stick with you’.” He said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But, for the record - you’re not. You’ve done nothing but complain about me for hanging out with them since we got to the Common Room last night, Finnegan.”

 

“But Neville, what would your Grandmother think of you hanging out with all the junior Death Eaters?” One of the girls asked with obviously mock concern.

 

“That’s Lavender Brown. She’s pureblood, but not on the directory, so her family’s not influential enough to associate with us.” Pansy quietly informed the group of girls sitting on the blanket.

 

“Well, that makes sense. We get lessons on how to behave in public, and if she’s going to fake being concerned the least she could do is learn how to act.” Daphne said, leaning towards Pansy and Hermione and allowing her voice to carry over so everyone could hear her. Brown’s face flushed bright red at the quiet laughter that bubbled up from the Slytherins.

 

“Last time I checked, Weasley, there weren’t any accused Death Eaters named Zabini, Granger, Davis, Bulstrode, or Greengrass, so don’t go around telling people nonsense. Just because they’re traditionalists doesn’t mean they’re going to become Death Eaters, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is dead anyways, so there aren’t any Death Eaters left.” Neville retorted, rolling his eyes at them all in annoyance. “Besides, my grandmother is a traditionalist, too, and won’t care about me being friends with children who grew up the same way I did.”

 

“You keep telling yourself that Neville,” Potter said sadly, shaking his head in disappointment.

 

“Yeah, don’t bother crying to us when they all prove you wrong and are Death Eaters,” Weasley said, wrinkling his nose at them all which didn’t have the effect he was hoping for as his ears and neck were bright red from embarrassment. Draco scoffed and pushed himself off the tree to walk towards the Gryffindors.

 

“Hey Weasley, here’s a million Galleon idea you might take into consideration. Why don’t you stop spewing nonsense into Potter’s ear and take your little following with you back into the castle,” he said, defending Neville. His wand appeared in his hand with a flick of his wrist and Hermione, who had been watching the interaction, stood up the second she saw it. Theo and Blaise finally stood up as well, wands out, and stepped into place behind Draco.

 

Hermione had stood up with the intention of trying to convince Draco to not resort to violence but ended up sighing instead and took his place leaning against the tree. Daphne leant back to speak to Hermione.

 

“Wise decision, staying out. It’s better to let them get rid of their anger and frustration now, otherwise, they’ll be in awful moods later.” Daphne whispered to her. Pansy nodded her agreement, as did Millicent. Hermione’s eyebrow raised on its own accord and she snorted in disbelief.

 

“Trust us, Hermione, with the number of times that Draco, Blaise, and Theodore have gotten into arguments and fights over stupid things… You’d think we would’ve learned to stop trying to intervene after the first dozen times. At least they haven’t resorted to anything physical yet.” Millicent said once Pansy had convinced Hermione to sit back down again. Hermione sighed and flopped back down onto the blanket, pouting.

 

“Don’t worry, we hate having to do this too,” Daphne reassured, patting Hermione’s knee.

 

“It hasn’t gotten easier, and I don’t think it will until we’re all much older and have other things to worry about.” Pansy piped up, laying on her back next to Hermione. 

 

* * *

  
It was only after Hermione made a sarcastic comment about how there haven’t been any classes to teach the first years proper spells that the Gryffindors collectively decided that Neville was a lost cause and returned to the Castle.

 

“Why’d you have to ruin our fun, ‘Mione,” Draco whined when he sat back down on the blanket.

 

“Well sorry for not wanting to make enemies before classes have even started,” Hermione grumbled sarcastically. Draco snorted and laid on his back next to her.

 

“Hermione, we’re Slytherins. They decided we were their enemies the minute we sat at our table.” He commented.

 

“Well, this blows. They totally just ruined the vibe we had going and I’m over this. Who else wants to go exploring again.” Blaise said, climbing up onto his feet.

 

“Yeah, alright. Let’s see if we can find Abbott, or Macmillan and ask if they’ll be willing to meet with our Court a few times during each term.” Draco replied, standing up as well. He lent Hermione a hand and helped her up as well.

 

“Macmillan’s a prat though, Drake.” Theo groaned but reluctantly stood up as well. He offered a hand to Daphne, who accepted it. “Abbott is nice and all, and Susan Bones is a bit uptight - don’t give me that look you know they’ll be together, especially since they’re both in Hufflepuff now - but I can stomach both of them. Macmillan’s just a straight up prat.”

 

“Says the world’s second-biggest prat of all.” Pansy rolled her eyes, smiling. “Second to our very own Draco Malfoy, that is.”

 

“Hey! Don’t make me tell Mother you said that, she won’t send any of the cakes you like in my sweets box.” Draco said, glaring mockingly at Pansy, who mock gasped and ended up choking on air. Draco and Theo burst into laughter and were doubled over before Pansy caught her breath. She glared at them for a moment and turned to speak to Daphne and Hermione.

 

“See, the world’s two biggest prats and we’re forced to hang out with them because our parents run in the same social cliques,” Pansy said to Daphne with a look of exasperation on her face. “What ever did we do to deserve this?”

 

“I haven’t the faintest idea, but let’s go find Abbott and Bones,” Daphne replied, “And Macmillan,” she added as an afterthought.

 

* * *

 

   
It took a little while, but eventually, the first years were finally on their way to the library - led by Theo and Hermione - when they literally ran into Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Ernie Macmillan and the few other first-year Hufflepuffs coming out of the library.

 

“Oh, sorry. Pardon us, Abbo- Hang on! We were just looking for the three of you.” Theo exclaimed as he was the one who ran into them in his excitement to get to the library. Draco stepped forward as their spokesperson so he was standing in front of Theo and Hermione. Vince and Greg stepped forward as well to back him up.

 

“Abbott, Bones, Macmillan.” Draco nodded to each of them in greeting. Abbott stepped forward to speak for the Hufflepuffs.

 

“Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, Greengrass, Longbottom?, Bulstrode.” She nodded back in a similar greeting, seemingly confused as to why Neville was with them.

 

“Let’s walk and talk, Abbott?” Draco suggested, offering his arm to her courteously. Hermione eyed him curiously for a bit before turning and making eye contact with Daphne, who had also been watching Draco. They exchanged a quick look and Hermione turned back to the situation at hand, not noticing Daphne’s silent conversation with Pansy.

 

“Let’s.” She agreed and accepted his arm.

 

The two walked on for a bit before Draco stopped and looked back at them all.

 

“Come on guys, we’re all gonna talk where we had lunch,” he said, motioning them with his unoccupied arm. They looked around at one another and shrugged before trekking off to the willow tree at the edge of the Black Lake.

 

Luckily, they didn’t encounter the first year Gryffindors again. When the large group of children arrived at the willow tree, the boys spread the blanket out. It took a little while, but eventually, the Hufflepuff’s were drawn into the calm atmosphere that, surprisingly, surrounded the Slytherin first years and Neville. Draco, Daphne, and Neville sat further away from the other Slytherins and were speaking to Abbott, Bones, and Macmillan in hushed tones.

 

Blaise clapped his hands together loudly and startled the entire group of first years. Draco and Daphne both glared at Blaise out of the corner of their eyes, making the boy laugh.

 

“Alright everybody, why don’t we take the time, while our House Leaders are speaking with one another, to introduce ourselves. The Slytherins and I will go first. My name is Blaise Zabini and uh… I speak fluent Italian. Next.” Blaise said, laying on the blanket next to Vince and Greg.

 

“I’m Theodore Nott, Jr. and Draco and Blaise are teaching me French and Italian respectively,” Theo said, glaring at Blaise’s general direction.

 

“Hermione Granger. I’m a muggle-born, and I used to be fluent in French.” Hermione muttered begrudgingly.

 

Tracey, Millicent, Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory each introduced themselves as well, but only with their names. The Hufflepuffs went next, and the main group of first-year Slytherins now knew them by name. The Hufflepuffs were also very lax about the unspoken name rule that Slytherin had, so by the end of the introduction they were all on first name bases. After a few minutes of casual conversation about their expectations of classes and classmates - specifically the Harry Potter and the rest of the Gryffindors - Abbott, Bones, and Macmillan stood up from the blanket and the Hufflepuff entourage walked back into the castle.

 

Draco, Daphne, and Neville re-joined the deformed circle Hermione and the other Slytherins had made on the picnic blanket.

 

“So what did you say?” Blaise asked, rolling onto his side to use his hand and arm to hold his head up.

 

“Well, I just mentioned that the three of us are sending our parents, in Neville’s case his grandmother, letters to inform them of the Headmaster’s death corridor and asked if they could do the same.” Daphne explained, “I figured it would be better coming from me than Draco, if only because his father has been trying to have Dumbledore removed since he, Lord Malfoy, finished Hogwarts and became a politician.”

 

“Well, when you say it like that it does make sense. I’ve overheard my Father talking to Perseus about how difficult it’s been for Lord Greengrass to stay neutral, especially when all of our generation is just as close are the older generations. I think he must have been giving Perseus Lordship lessons or something similar.” Pansy confessed.

 

“Pans, we’re only first years. We won’t need to worry about politics until we set our agenda and tell the rest of the House.” Draco sighed, struggling to run a hand through his gelled hair, “We should be worrying about Uncle Severus’ first potions class. I tried to get him to tell me something that would set me ahead of the class but all he told me was to read the introductory of our textbook and pray to my gods he won’t pick me for the surprise verbal test he gives every year.”

 

Hermione bolted upright. “We have an exam in our very first Potions class?!?” came the Banshee-like screech, “Why aren’t we in our Room studying!?”

 

“Merlin help us, we have another swot in our midst.” Blaise groaned, flopping on his back dramatically to make the other girls giggle.

 

“No, Blaise, ‘Mione’s actually right. I’m fairly certain we’re going to have Potions tomorrow, and Slytherin’s always get paired with Gryffindors in Potions. We should all read at least the first chapter of our Potions text. And if we really wanted to make sure we’re ahead, we’d do that for all our textbooks.” Draco suggested.

 

With a collective groan, the first years begrudgingly stood up, folded up the picnic blanket, and started the trek to the Court Room to read their potions textbook.

 

* * *

 

 

  
“Everyone’s read through the introductory to 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi?” Theo asked, snapping his book shut and walking to the front of the old desks in the first year’s Court’s Room.

 

“Not bloody willingly, but yes,” Blaise complained, rubbing his eyes before he looked up at Theo.

 

“Alright, so who can tell me what the potion used as an example does - without looking through the book, Vince,” Theo asked his friends. Hermione’s arm shot into the air immediately. Theo looked at her, perplexed. Draco and Daphne exchanged a puzzled glance, and Neville sighed, defeated.

 

“You aren’t gonna let any of us answer, then?” Blaise said sarcastically.

 

Now it was Hermione’s turn to be perplexed.

 

“What do mean, Blaise? I’m not preventing you from answering?” Hermione replied slowly.

 

“No, except only now the Professor’s won’t pick anybody else because you raised your hand so quickly. Doing that makes the rest of us seem stupid. Did you not hear Neville’s sigh of defeat?” Pansy spoke up. She and the others in the back row of desks - Millicent and Tracey with Daphne and Draco sitting at the old Professor's desk- had been curiously watching Hermione since she had thrust her arm in the air.

 

Hermione looked as if she had been slapped.

 

“I honestly did not mean to do that. What do I do then, if I know the answer to any question the Professor asks?” She asked.

 

“Do what Theo does.” Draco sniggered at his friend’s offended facial expression. “He waits for a while to see how many get the answer wrong and then lazily gives the answer as if it were obvious.”

 

“Hey! I do not-!” Theo cut himself off with an apologetic smile, “Okay maybe I’ve done that a couple times, but it's only because the answer is obvious. If you think it’ll help, Hermione, I can sit next to you in our classes this term and prevent you from making yourself a social pariah unintentionally by being the ultimate swot.”

 

“Merlin save us all. The only two swots in our year that aren’t ‘Claws and they’re banding together. What are we going to do.” Blaise whined to Greg, who was seated between Hermione and Blaise, and Vince, who was seated in the middle row next to Neville.

 

“Wow Hermione, I’ve never heard anyone make Blaise whine like that before,” Millicent said, giggling between words.

 

“Guys, we’ve gotten off task. Can anyone, besides Hermione, tell me, again without looking in the textbook, what potion they used as the first example?” Theo asked, looking around at his group of friends.

 

Neville made the mistake of looking Theo in the eye.

 

“Neville? Can you give me an answer?” Theo asked.

 

“Uh… I’m not, I don’t... Um..” Neville stammered, his eyes shut and head shaking.

 

“Try and remember, eh? We only just read it so it should come to you. Here’s a tip, it’s a Draught.” Theo said patiently. Wow, he’s good at this. I would have just moved on or gave the answer. But that would’ve embarrassed Neville and probably made him more nervous, which is probably the opposite of what Theo wants.

 

“Oh! It’s the Draught of the Living Death!” Neville exclaimed.

 

“Excellent! Good job Neville!” Theo praised, “Can somebody else tell me something they thought was interesting in the introduction?”

 

Blaise had been leaning on his hand when he casually motioned to himself with his fingers and set it back down on the desk. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

 

“But Blaise just raised his hand? Why can he do it but not me?” She accused.

 

“There are a couple reasons actually,” Daphne said from the back of the room, “First off, our ‘Professor’ asked a question that wanted someone’s opinion, so he’d need a volunteer for that, but the way that Blaise raised his hand wasn’t… no offense, Hermione, but Blaise wasn’t as obnoxious or attention drawing as when you did it. He did it subtly so you’d only tell if you were looking at him or right next to him.”

 

Hermione huffed. So much unspoken etiquette. Someone should write a book explaining the in’s and out’s of pureblood etiquette.

 

“Someone should write a book explaining all of that,” she grumbled.

 

“Someone already has. I can’t remember the name, but I’ll ask my Father about it and get it to you after Yule.” Draco replied nonchalantly. Hermione nodded in agreement.

 

“Alright! Blaise, what did you find interesting?” Theo asked, changing the subject back to Potions.

 

“There are different names for the exact same plant, but instead of using a common name for the plant, different potions use one of the alternative names,” Blaise answered without skipping a beat.

 

“Did anyone else find something different interesting?”

 

Hermione made eye contact with Theo and lifted her chin subtly. Theo smirked, looking behind her and nodding his head a few times.

 

“Alright, Hermione?” Theo said, motioning for her to continue.

 

“The first potion listed in the book is a cure, but the introductory said a bezoar could cure most poisons, using the Draught of the Living Death as an example of a case where either a cure or a bezoar can be used. I thought that was interesting because we’re still expected to know how to make cures even when a common ingredient could be bought and used instead.” Hermione rattled off, making Blaise turn in his seat to roll his eyes dramatically at Pansy.

 

“Don’t be rude Blaise. She’s smart and can connect dots easily. She’s gonna get far as our House-mate, I can feel it.” Tracey remarked, staring directly at Blaise while she spoke.

 

“I was trying to come off as playful. Apologies, Hermione, if it didn’t seem that way.” Blaise turned to Hermione, who shook her head.

 

“No it’s alright, I saw you smiling the whole time. Theo, I don’t think anyone wants to do this anymore. If Draco was right and we are going to have a surprise exam in Potions, I have a feeling it will be on the introductory, just for Professor Snape to see who actually bothered to open their books before classes actually started.” Hermione said, shutting her book.

 

A chorus of agreement met Hermione’s assumption, and the group of first years packed their books back in their rucksacks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, you should know the drill by now: if you haven't left kudos yet and really enjoyed my story, please leave a kudos. Also subscribe to get notified when I upload another chapter. AND!!! please leave a comment saying what you liked/disliked and any theories you might have come up with, maybe it'll be one I haven't thought of and might use :3
> 
> love you all, once again I am so sorry for not uploading a chapter for almost four months. it won't happen again. I have planned out the next four chapters as they relate to the first HP book.


	4. Lessons, Duels, and Broomsticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this isn't technically a summary but I'm just warning you there's a few time jumps/jump cuts bc, had I written them out, this chapter would have probably been twice as long. it was already 35 pages on the google docs file I wrote this on. so yikes. hope you enjoy!
> 
> ** 10.8.2018 - I'm looking for a beta reader, or someone I can bounce ideas off of, and someone who can motivate me to sit down and actually write when I can't motivate myself. let me know if you're interested either in the comments or by dming my pinterest **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yiiiiiiiiikes it's been another four months hasn't it? I'm gonna try and not give any excuses, bc there aren't any. but i can say that i sorta ran out of motivation in the middle of writing the flying lesson up until like last week. i'd sit there with the doc open and just... keep... sitting there... 
> 
> anyways, I hope you enjoy this 35 page monstrosity. i have a feeling that the chapters might keep getting longer as the fic progresses. (for a reference, the first chapter is 18 pages, the second is 30, and the third is 27 pages as i've written them on google drive. i had them all on one doc but it ended up being 110+ pages long and that was stress. i split each chapter up. idk how i'm gonna split up the HP series tho bc i made this fic into a series and a series means more than one. idk ill figure it out. i'm rambling at this point, ENJOY THE CHAPTER!!!

**Chapter 4 : Lessons, Duels, and Broomsticks**

_Thoughts/Flashbacks_ || “Speaking” ||  **_Letters_ **

 

 

 _Charientism_ _  
_ _(n.) An artfully veiled insult_

 

 

 

 

“I really hope that Potions isn’t as big of a  _bore_  as Defense was. I don’t know  _what_ I was expecting but it certainly wasn’t a classroom stinking of  _garlic_  of all things and a stuttering Professor,” Pansy complained after she sat down in an armchair.

 

“I dunno Pans, his story sounds real,” replied Blaise, throwing himself on the three-seater sofa.

 

Draco sat on the other end of the three-seater sofa and commented, “I think he might be forcing his stutter. There were a couple times when he didn’t have one while he was reading those passages, and there were other times when he asked questions where it was every word, sometimes twice in one word.”

 

Hermione let out a startled yelp when the two boys on the sofa both reached up to grab her arms and pull her down to sit between them. Theo claimed half the loveseat for himself but moved aside to make room for Daphne and Tracey.

 

“I wonder if anybody’s taken the turban off of him yet,” Vince whispered conspiratorially, “All I’m saying is, yeah? is that he seems a bit too preoccupied about that turban of his than he is teaching us properly.”

 

“That was a four syllable word Vince, I’m proud of you!” Theo exclaimed, causing all other conversations to halt. Vince shot him a glowering look which Theo ignored to continue talking, “ _But_  I thought we already talked about classes and agreed that we’ll need to study Defense and History on our own. Why don't we talk about the classes we’ve had that we enjoyed, like Astronomy. Or Herbology. Or even bloody Transfiguration,”

 

“Nope, no way, not Transfiguration. The topic might be interesting, but McGonagall has it out for us. Hermione made  _way_  more progress than that Perks girl, but she only got a nod while Perks earned points and was made an example of,” Tracey piped up. Draco sighed.

 

“I don’t like that either, but Father said that all the Heads tends to favour their own house above the others and Slytherin least of all. He also told me that he’s always thought that the Head of Slytherin has the worst job of all Heads because they have to be stricter with the other three houses and a hell of a lot more lenient with his own house, just to balance it out. We’ll earn all the points we need in order to catch up when we’re in Potions, don’t worry,” he reassured, “To be fair, we’ll probably get more points overall in astronomy too. Professor Sinistra was with Professor Snape during his ‘Welcome to Slytherin’ speech.”

 

“But what’ll it cost  _us_  for Professor Snape’s leniency?” Hermione asked, reminding everybody that she a different upbringing than the rest of them, one not imbued with hidden politics.

 

“We’ll be hated,” Pansy muttered under her breath. “By Merlin, we already  _are_  hated and that’s just because of our family names.”

 

“Everyone who isn’t on the inside. They don’t understand, and therefore don’t agree,” Theo added bitterly. “If Hermione hadn’t met Draco and I first she’d’ve probably been one of them too. On the outside, not understanding.”

 

“That’s what our house rules are for, though. Protect our own? Don’t get caught? The entire school despises our house and the only thing we can do is make sure none of us is caught in the crossfire,” Draco insisted. Daphne sighed.

 

“With all of this being said, Hermione’s going to end up being the  _darling_ Slytherin in our year. It won’t be me. Far too many obvious reasons. But Hermione?” she said and turned to face the girl in question. Hermione felt blood rush to her face.

 

“The poor little muggle-born girl who doesn’t know what she got herself into by befriending us? She’s the one all the other Professors will say doesn’t belong in our house because she’s too sweet, or too smart, or even too naive. Our parents will probably think that that’s a good thing. Being underestimated by those in power.” Daphne’s tone had been quite mocking at the beginning before it settled back into her normal tone of voice.

 

“They’ll try to tear us apart, or try and get us to tear ourselves apart but we  _cannot_  let that happen. We have to stand by each other and include Neville, we’ve seen how his housemates treat him, to protect ourselves from outsiders. If we end up having to remove the people in power then that’s what we’ll have to do,” Millicent said softly from where she stood next to Pansy’s armchair.

 

“Looks like we found our agenda,” Greg muttered, barking out a laugh. Blaise snorted from the irony which drew out nervous laughs from the rest.

 

 

Hermione pulled her two Potions textbooks from the depths of her overfilled book bag. The assigned textbook listed in the initial Hogwarts acceptance letter -  _Magical Draughts and Potions_  written by Arsenius Jigger - was the first book Hermione pulled out. The other -  _The Book of Potions_  written by The Half-Blood Prince - had been personally recommended to Hermione by both Lucius Malfoy and the ex-Slytherin shopkeeper and soon followed the first.

 

“Hermione, what are you doing?” Tracey asked curiously.

 

“She’s being a swot,” Blaise retorted, poking Hermione’s side in a teasing manner. Neither realized that the teasing would become their usual way of communication.

 

“We’ll need to break her out of that. Remember how Theo used to be?” Draco commented absentmindedly while looking over her shoulder to read the Potions textbooks with her.

 

“I’m studying the two Potions texts I bought to prepare a bit more for class tomorrow. .” Hermione replied, swatting Blaise’s hand away and sticking her tongue out at him.

 

“Oh that’s real mature Hermione,” he grinned, looking over her books as well. The soft rustling of books being pulled from bags broke the brief silence that had fallen over the group.

 

* * *

 

 

 

The Great Hall’s contagious energy affected all who ate breakfast on that first Friday morning at Hogwarts - even the Slytherin’s weren't immune. Hermione jumped at the arrival of the post-owls, though not as bad as she had the previous day when they flew through the rafters in a flurry of hoots and feathers.

Her own Eagle-Owl had accompanied Draco’s twice thus far when delivering any letters, alongside the Daily Prophet owl Draco paid each morning, and evening, but today marked the start of a new tradition for the two of them - both of their owls had quite substantial sized boxes tied to their legs. Hermione looked across the table and made brief eye contact with Draco.

“So uhm, Athena and Hermes are both carrying packages?” Hermione asked casually, nodding her head towards the two owls.

 

“Oh, it’s Friday, isn't it. Mother told me before I boarded the train that she would be sending us both boxes of cakes and sweets every Friday to enjoy on the weekend.” Draco explained, starting to clear off a space between the two of them. Hermione, Blaise, and Theo also helped and within minutes the two owls landed on the recently cleared off space. Draco untied the packages from both owls, while Hermione offered them both some sausage as gratitude. Athena cooed at her and gently nipped Hermione’s finger before flying off. Hermes took off after giving Draco a nip on the ear.

 

Draco pulled the card from his package and started to read it aloud, “Yes I was right. They are from Mother.  **‘Dearest Dragon and darling Hermione** -”

 

Theo snorted in amusement, spewing the tea he just sipped all over Draco and the letter. Draco shot Theo a dirty look and wiped his face with a handkerchief. Hermione, on the other hand, had turned red at the courtesies offered by Narcissa Malfoy.

 

“Sorry,” Theo apologized, grinning, not sounding apologetic at all. Draco rolled his eyes in fond annoyance.

 

“Just let me read, damn it.” He muttered, continuing to read the now-damp letter from his mother. “  **‘I don’t believe we ever discussed this, but I will be sending you both sweets and cakes every Friday for you and your friends to enjoy on the weekend. There is more than enough for all of your house-mates in your year, so I don’t want any letters complaining how there wasn’t enough. I know you know how to share with others.’**  This letter is just a formality as she knew I’d be reading it out loud because it’s also addressed to you, Hermione, I’ll open the packages after I finish reading this bit addressed to you.

 

“ **‘Now Hermione. I don’t mean to sound overbearing, but I do hope that Draco has been behaving, and not picking fights with Theodore and/or Blaise.’** ” Draco scoffed, “We haven’t picked any fights with each other!  **‘I would appreciate it if you could tell me if they have.’** ”

 

Draco looked Hermione straight in the eye and said, “Hermione you will  _not_ be sending Mother letters about my behaviour. Ever.  **‘But Draco’s Father,** **_Lord Lucius of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Malfoy,_ ** **and I have both discussed this, and we are well aware that you won’t have access to Magical News outside Hogwarts, so we went ahead and bought you a years worth of subscriptions to the Daily and Evening Prophets. If you wish to keep accepting the newspaper after this year, I’m sure Lucius would be happy to sort it out for you. I will also be happy to show you other magazines and newspapers you might be interested in if you happen to visit us during Yuletide. Meilleurs vœux, Dragon. Wishing you both the best first week as Hogwarts’ newest Slytherins,** **_Lady Narcissa of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Malfoy and the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black._ ** **’**

 

“She knows she can just sign with Mother, right?” Draco asked his friends rhetorically.

 

“Draco, all of our parents sign with their titles. Even when they send us letters  _if_ they send us letters.” Theo replied, drinking the freshly made tea in his cup. Draco nodded absentmindedly whilst opening the package left by Hermes. As Draco opened his, Hermione saw a large embellished D in the same font as the H on the top of hers. She watched as he took out a small cake for himself, and handed the box to Blaise. Blaise took one as well and held the box out for Theo. The boys all passed Draco’s box amongst themselves before it made its way back to Draco, who had now opened Hermione’s box for her. Hermione’s eyes had unfocused for a moment before she saw Draco’s smug grin and her open box of cakes.

 

“They didn’t have to do that for me. They didn’t have to do any of this for me. I’m just… me,” Hermione whispered, her expression one of shock for a split second before she snapped out of it to mockingly glare at Draco. “But also, don’t tell me what I can and can’t do,  _Dragon_ , or I might just have to tell her about the argument you lot got into with the Gryffindors on Sunday.”

 

She accepted the box from Draco and grabbed a small cake with what looked like strawberries, popping the entire thing in her mouth with a grin. Hermione passed her box to Tracey, who sat next to her. Hermione’s box made its way through the first year girls before coming back to her with a few cakes still in them.

 

Draco gaped at her for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and returned her mocking glare with one of his own, “You wouldn’t dare.”

 

“Try me,” she said smirking after she finished eating the cake. “Thanks for opening the box for me.”

 

“Alright,  _children_ , we  _are_  in public, I hope you remember. Draco, dear, I know for a fact that your Mother taught you better. Anyways, we’d all better get going to Herbology. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave, and the sooner we’re able to get tidied up before Transfiguration.” Pansy said, draining the last of her morning tea and standing up. She snatched herself another cake from Draco’s box before she walked off towards the double doors of the Great Hall. The others followed her lead and the group of first-years walked off to Herbology. Hermione quickly stashed her own box into her shoulder bag and followed the group out of the Great Hall.

 

“Like I said on the train, Father said he had a good feeling about your future. If anything he’s just investing in it early, to guarantee your success. You might be normal, swotty Hermione right now, but before we graduate I bet you’ll be so integrated into our world that you’ll hardly remember anything but it,” Draco replied, throwing an arm over Hermione’s shoulders and grinning at her. “And you’re welcome. For opening your cakes box.”

 

“Hurry up love-birds.” Theo taunted, walking backwards to make faces at Draco. Hermione looked at Draco and giggled when she saw the expression on his face.

 

 

 

The group of Slytherins ran into Neville on the walk to the greenhouses.

 

 

 

“Neville!” “Hello Neville, how are you?” “‘Lo Longbottom.” “Hey Nev.” and “Neville, mate, how’s it been?” as well as any variations, were all shouted, cheered, or exclaimed when the Court reunited with its only Gryffindor member.

 

“Oh, hey guys. I’m alright. Did you know that we’re going to learn about Devil’s Snare today? I stayed behind after the lesson on Wednesday and asked Professor Sprout if I needed to read up on anything, but I’d already read up on Devil’s Snare because I want to grow some in my own greenhouse when I’m older and strong enough to take care of it. 

 

“They need  _really_ specific surroundings to really flourish because they hate sunlight you see, so you’d need to have a greenhouse completely shaded and specifically only for Devil’s Snare so it grows to its full capacity, but it’s a great plant to have if you want to set impenetrable boundaries around something. There’s probably a way to use it for healing too, but nobody’s discovered it, but it has that vibe, y’know? It gives off a vibe that it can be used in healing potions or balms, at least to me it does. That might be because it’s related to Flitterbloom, but I’m gonna ask Professor Sprout about it,” Neville’s mouth ran a mile a minute without stopping before he finally realized he needed to breathe and gasped for air. The Slytherin’s looked at one another, concerned, before turning back to Neville.

 

“Neville, what happened? Are the other Gryffindors still talking shit about us and calling us Death Eaters?” Blaise bit the metaphorical bullet and asked the question nobody else wanted to.

 

“Only in the dorms… and the classes you aren’t in… and meals… that’s why they’ve been laughing at you. Ronald Weasley’s trying to spread rumours about you but they don’t seem to be sticking with anyone but the other first-year boys in our dom,” Neville confessed, seeming to shrink into himself.

 

“Pansy? Is this true?” Theo asked, turning to the raven-haired girl.

 

“I haven’t heard anything, so it has to just be an inside joke or something within their dormitory. Which reminds me, I have to start collecting my own group of informants from other houses who can share rumours and other  _information_  with me.” There was a sadistic glint in her eyes that made the others a bit wary. “I think I might start with the Patil twins. Parvati is in Gryffindor and Padma is in Ravenclaw. I know some things about them that would get them into serious trouble if their parents were to find out.”

 

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Blaise muttered, making Pansy smirk.

 

“Oh! Neville, do you want a cake?” Hermione asked, pulling her box from within her bookbag. The boy in question shrugged but reluctantly accepted the cake after it became obvious that Hermione wouldn’t take no for an answer.

 

“Thanks,” he mumbled. Hermione’s face lit up with a grin and they all continued the walk to the greenhouses.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“ - the sun. Devil’s Snare, Devil’s Snare, it’s deadly fun but will sulk in the sun. Devil’s Snare, Devil’s Sna-”

 

“Theodore Nott Jr! Would you stop that?! Just because it rhymes doesn’t mean it needs to be repeated all the bloody time!” Pansy finally yelled, throwing her hands up in the air out of sheer exasperation. Blaise, Vince and Greg started sniggering while Draco just looked at Theo sympathetically. They all knew what it felt like to be singled out and yelled at by Pansy.

 

The Herbology lesson about Devil’s Snare had interested them all, up until they were told to read about it in the text and write an essay comparing the plant to another, completely harmless plant, called Flitterbloom. If the essay had not been completed by the end of the lesson, they had to be finished for homework and turned in during Monday’s continuation lesson.

 

Professor Sprout had also taught the class a rhyme towards the end that would help them should they ever encounter wild Devil’s Snare and Theo, in all of his “I-have-to-know-every-obscure-fact- about-everything”, had been repeating the same rhyme during the ten minutes it took to walk from the greenhouses to the Entrance Hall and had finally succeeded in driving everybody up the walls.

 

“Hey, guys, listen. I’m sorry being a nervous wreck at the beginning of class, I guess I was just really worried about telling you what Weasley’s been saying. I’m gonna head to my Common Room to tidy up now, but I’ll see you at Double Potions later, yeah?” Neville muttered when the group had reached the Grand Staircase in the Entrance Hall.

 

“Yes, of course, Neville,” Draco replied on behalf of the Slytherins, “We’ll see if we can save you a seat near any of us.”

 

“Great, thanks, mate. See you in a bit,” Neville said and began the ascent to the Gryffindor Common Room.

 

 

The Slytherin first-years walked down the stairs towards the dungeons. After they arrived at the first landing on the staircase, Theo held back the tapestry to expose the supposedly blank wall behind. Draco looked around to make sure there weren’t any outsiders near them and pushed on the stone brick that opened the hidden passageway.

 

The illusion of the wall melted away to reveal the passageway that connects the corridor with the Slytherin Common Room to the staircase leading to Entrance Hall. The 10 first-years quickly made their way through the doorway and Theo let the tapestry fall back down. Torches illuminated the entire passageway down to the Slytherin Common Room, basking them all in a warm, golden light for the duration of the journey.

 

When the girls finished tidying up, almost an hour later, they all walked down the corridor from their dormitories to the Common Room, where the boys were waiting for them.

 

“Come on, hurry up! We have to get to Transfiguration! And our breaks almost over!” Theo said impatiently from the landing next to the entrance to the Common Room.

 

"Mate, calm down. We know the passageway to at least get to the ground floor,” Draco piped up before turning to the girls, “but we should leave now.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

After a relatively easy theory-based lesson meant to prepare them for Monday’s practical lesson, the tight-knit group of Slytherins made their way through the crowded corridors to get to the Great Hall for lunch.

 

“We get two hours for lunch. If we eat quickly we could make it back to the Common Room to switch out our books and freshen ourselves up before Double Potions. We have to be  _better_ than Gryffindor in that class at the very least.” Pansy muttered to the other girls. Hermione and the rest all nodded their understanding and each picked something small and relatively easy to eat.

 

Hermione chose two portions of the cheese and cucumber sandwiches with some crisps on the side, which Daphne and Tracey had chosen as well. Millicent had grabbed herself a small serving of toad in a hole, which Hermione had eaten the other day and thought was delicious, and Pansy had a small steak and kidney pie. The boys, as expected, had loaded their plates up with a few bits of everything and were already making a dent in their food. In record time the first year, Slytherin girls had eaten their somewhat small lunches and stood up from the table in unison.

 

“Woah, hey, where are you going? There’s still loads of time to eat,” Blaise said, as the only boy without his mouth full of food.

 

“We just want to freshen up before Potions,” Daphne explained, pulling her bag strap onto her shoulder.

 

“Wait for us in the Rooms if you finish before we do?” Pansy asked, looking directly at Draco, who swallowed immediately in order to answer.

 

“Yes, of course,” his voice sounded choked but he nodded and shot Pansy a smile. Hermione’s stomach shifted uncomfortably for a moment, which she brushed off quickly.

 

 

The first-year girls hurried out of their Common Room and down the corridor.

 

“Wait!” Pansy exclaimed, halting abruptly, making Millicent almost crash into her.

 

“What is it, Pans?” Daphne asked, a little startled at how suddenly they stopped moving.

 

“Why are we running when there’s _literally_  a passageway that leads right outside Professor Snape’s office? A passageway that’s quicker than running down this corridor, up the stairs, and down the corridor above us?” Pansy asked incredulously.

 

“Well, thank Merlin you remembered  _that_  piece of information! We’ll have to stop by our Room to pick up the boys though. Merlin knows that they’d probably forget.” Daphne replied, relieved that they were avoiding excessive physical exertion.

 

A few minutes later and the Slytherin first-year girls emerged outside their Head of House’s office.

 

“I don’t have any cobwebs on me, do I?” Daphne asked the girls, running her hands through her hair quickly.

 

“Wait, Daph. Turn?” Tracey asked, looking over her friend. Daphne obliged and turned around a few times. “No, you’re fine.”

 

“Okay. Let’s go get our boys.” Daphne said, smiling brightly at her friends for a split second before settling with an easy, confident, smirk. Pansy left her face expressionless, while the others settled for something in between. Hermione, not knowing what to do, copied Pansy’s expression. The girls had turned to find the shorter passageway to go up to the Courts Room when they heard a couple coughs from behind them.

 

They turned and saw their male counterparts leaning against the stone walls casually. The boys, having seen the girls’ antics as they exited, had rolled their eyes in exasperation.

 

“Oh hello, boys. We were just about to go up to the Room to get you.” Hermione admitted.

 

“Yes, well. We thought it would be best to meet you outside Professor Snape’s classroom instead. Considering you took the rest of lunch to get ready.” Theo replied in a clipped tone, which left Hermione puzzled. They all walked to the Potions classroom, though, and not a second after they stopped in front of it, did the door slam open with Professor Snape’s silhouette looming over them.

 

His eyes narrowed as he analyzed the newest generation of Slytherin students and their expressions, before stepping aside and letting them in. The door slammed behind them. They jumped.

 

“How’s Granger settling in?” Professor Snape asked the group, focusing mainly on the girls.

 

“Aside from her asking a few obvious questions in private company, if I hadn’t known she was muggle-born, she could have passed for a half-blood,” Daphne replied. The other girls nodded in agreement.

 

“Gentlemen?” Snape asked, turning. Draco eyed his companions, and then Hermione and the girls, before speaking.

 

“She’d be better at passing off as a half-blood if she knew more of our etiquette. She’s good at faking it, but we do things that have been so ingrained in us because of years of lessons that we don’t realize we’re doing them. That needs to happen for Hermione. As of right now she seems to be mimicking Daphne and Pansy - which is great for the outsiders, but we can all see right through it - but eventually, she needs to find her own style.” Draco said slowly. Professor Snape nodded,

 

“I see. I recommend owling your Mother - and yours as well, Miss Greengrass, Miss Parkinson - and ask for any etiquette books that can help,” he replied. “Now get to your seats - and stick to one side of the classroom. You aren’t mature enough to not sabotage your own potions in order to sabotage a Gryffindor’s.”

 

The boys started sputtering protests about how mature they are, while the girls simply shrugged and walked over to the rows of tables on the right-hand side of the room. Pansy and Millicent sat in the very back row, Daphne and Tracey sat in the row in front of them, but Hermione sat in the row in front of  _them_  because she wanted to sit near the girls but also close to the front of the room. Vince, Greg, and Draco sat in front of Hermione while Theo and Blaise joined her.

 

 

Eventually, the Gryffindor’s stumbled in, all of them panting and out of breath except for Neville.

 

 

Professor Snape began the class by taking roll like Professor Flitwick had the day before.

 

“ - Parkinson?”

 

“Present, sir.”

 

“Patil?”

 

“I’m here.”

 

There was a momentary pause.

 

“Ah, yes. Harry Potter. Our newest…  _celebrity_.” Professor Snape drawled. Hermione saw Draco, Vince, and Greg grinning at each other, and heard Theo snort, try to cover it up with a cough and end up in a coughing fit. Professor Snape shot them all a dark look and all noise ceased to exist outside of Professor Snape’s low voice.

 

“You are here to learn the subtle science and  _exact_ art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe that this is magic. I do not expect you will ever really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame and brew glory, even put a stopper in death - if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually am forced to teach.”

 

Dead silence followed his speech. Hermione saw, out of the corner of her eye, the looks the Gryffindors were exchanging. She desperately wanted to prove that she wasn’t of the same material as the other muggle-raised children that had been sorted into Gryffindor - that she was better and capable. Hermione saw, more than she heard, Professor Snape, snap at Potter.

 

“Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

 

“ _Powdered_  root of asphodel to an  _infusion_ of wormwood,” Theo muttered under his breath, thinking out loud, mind running a mile a minute. Hermione’s eyes snapped up to meet Professor Snape’s and she briefly saw a quick movement from the Gryffindor’s side out of the corner of her eye. Neville had sat right up, having figured out the answer as well. Pride swelled within her for the boy.

 

“I don’t know, sir,” Potter replied.  _It took that time for at least three of us to figure it out._ _This_ _is the saviour of the wizarding world? A boy who can’t even read the introduction of his Potion’s textbook?_

 

“Fame  _clearly_  isn’t everything….” Snape sneered. “Shall we try again? Tell me, Potter, where could I locate a bezoar?”

 

Blaise snorted. Hermione looked over at him, questioning, and he leaned towards her casually.

 

“Majority of the Potions Masters and Mistresses will have at  _least_ a dozen in their private stores, most of the time a hell of a lot more. They aren’t uncommon, but if Professor Snape’s expecting some sort of smart-arse response to dock points off, he asked the wrong side of the room,” he whispered, making sure to keep his eyes on the Gryffindor side of the room where Potter’s eyes moved frantically from one table mate to the other. Draco, Greg, and Vince’s shoulders shook with silent laughs.

 

“I don’t know, sir,” Potter replied again. Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically.  _Oh honestly. Did you not open your textbooks after leaving London?_

 

It seemed Professor Snape also shared Hermione’s train of thought.

 

“So, you thought you wouldn’t open a book before coming to class, eh, Potter?” Snape asked rhetorically. “Let’s see if you can’t answer this last question, What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?”

 

At this question, even Neville, the groups prodigious Herbologist, struggled not to laugh at The-Boy-Who-Lived.

 

“I don’t know, but I think  _your_ House does. Did you give them the answers to cheat off before class?” Potter accused, causing Professor Snape to smirk triumphantly.

 

“I did not give them the answers. I simply gave them the book that would help them discover the answers on their own, as I did for all my other students. However, it is not my responsibility to ensure that  _every_ student in every House at Hogwarts prepares for their first Potions class beforehand. If you had asked any older student, they would have told you that I give a simple quiz at the beginning of the first lesson, to make sure my students have at the very least read the introduction - which you evidently have not. Let’s see who can answer the questions I asked you, Potter.

 

“Longbottom! What is created by adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” Snape snapped, turning his attention to the lone Gryffindor at the back of the room.

 

“It makes a draught. Um… The Draught of the… of the Living Dead. Sir. Draught of the Living Dead,” Neville replied, stumbling over his words slightly.

 

“Work on your delivery, but correct, Longbottom. Zabini, where might I find a bezoar, since you were so interested in  _chatting_  about them with Miss Granger?”

 

“A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, and you could probably find a few in your private stores, sir, considering you  _are_ the Youngest Potions’ Master in the most recent years. A fact which automatically means that you are, in fact, a highly competent brewer. That, and they aren’t that uncommon,” Blaise replied cheekily, half-smirking and half-grinning. Professor Snape sighed but nodded.

 

“Acceptable. Miss Granger? Can you tell me the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”

 

“There is no difference, sir. The two are of the same plant which also goes by the name aconite, which just so happens to be poisonous to anyone without magic.” Hermione replied smugly, smirking over at the Gryffindors. Professor Snape nodded.

 

“Mr Nott, Mr Malfoy, you’ve each earned five points for Slytherin for making sure your housemates were prepared for this class, as well as another ten for including Mr Longbottom in your study group.”  _That was the_ easiest  _30 points we’ve earned so far._

 

“And for your insolent cheek, Potter, you’ve lost Gryffindor five points and earned a detention. Weasley, I’ll be taking five from you as well for spreading false information to your housemates” Snape said, prowling around the classroom with his cloak billowing behind him. “Now get into groups of  _three_ . We will be brewing a  _simple_  potion that cures boils.” 

 

There was a scramble amongst the students to group up. Draco, Vince, and Greg were one of the few groups that didn’t have to move. Theo moved back to sit with Daphne and Tracey, Blaise moved behind  _them_ and sat with Pansy and Millicent, while the other Gryffindors grouped together, leaving Hermione and Neville as the two outliers.

 

“Longbottom, move next to Granger. The two of you will be working together and I hope you have enough common sense to realise that your marks are the least of your worries if you attempt to sabotage one another,” Snape instructed. “The instructions are on the board, I expect this potion to be finished before the class is dismissed.”

 

“Can we use my equipment? Lord Malfoy bought me an ingredients set that has better quality ingredients than what’s put in the first-year kit, as well as another textbook that’s more updated.” Hermione whispered-asked Neville.

 

“Y-Yeah sure. Sure, course we can. Go ahead,” He replied, his voice trembling a bit.

 

“Okay, so the assigned textbook says we need snake fangs, horned slugs, and porcupine quills but the updated one says we need those, along with dried nettles, pungous onion, flobberworm mucous, ginger root, and shrake spines.”

 

“On the board, it says snake fangs, dried nettles, horned slugs, and porcupine quills.” Neville pointed out softly.

 

“Oh, right. Youngest Potions Master in many generations. Highly qualified. Wrote instructions on the board. Yeah, let’s just follow the board, but maybe we could set up a brewing station in the… study room… and compare my two books.” Hermione suggested, opting to follow the instructions on the blackboard.

 

Step-by-step, the students all brewed the cure to boils. Professor Snape had nothing but praise for the Slytherins - Draco especially - and nothing but criticism for the Gryffindors. Surprisingly, he didn’t say anything at all about Hermione and Neville. Professor Snape was just pointing out how adept Draco was at stewing horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke started spewing from one of the Gryffindor’s cauldrons. The aforementioned cauldron also sounded like a den of angry snakes with all the hissing it let out.

 

A wave of panic took hold of the students, who had all climbed onto their stools and desks, and Professor Snape swooped down on the Gryffindors.

 

“That was Weasley, Potter, and Finnegans’ cauldron,” Neville whispered to Hermione. Theo and Draco both overheard the whisper and soon enough, all the Slytherin’s knew and silently laughed amongst themselves.

 

“Idiots! The instructions clearly state to remove the potion from the flames  _before_  adding the porcupine quills!” Snape snarled at the three Gryffindor boys who were drenched in the potion. “But of course, Mr Potter should have already known that and stopped you from doing so! Go to the hospital wing! That’s another ten points from Gryffindor for endangering the lives of your fellow classmates.”

 

“I’m suddenly relieved that you had us read each line of instructions twice before following it. I would have made that mistake, too.” Neville said faintly, moving from his stool to sit at an empty spot on his and Hermione’s table.

 

“Yeah, me too Neville,” Hermione replied, just as faintly.

 

“Everyone else, finish brewing and then start cleaning your stations while your potions stew for the remainder of the class time,” Professor Snape muttered, stowing his wand in his sleeve.

 

 

An hour later and the remaining students in the Gryffindor/Slytherin Double Potions class had successfully - for the most part - brewed a potion to cure boils. The Gryffindors were the first to exit the classroom, sending glares to Neville, Professor Snape, and the Slytherin first-years. The first-year court lingered behind in the classroom.

 

“You’d think we killed their cats or something.” Blaise chuckled, leaning back on his stool.

 

“Felicide or not, I need to inform Professor McGonagall of the intricacies surrounding Mr Potter’s detention,” Professor Snape said irritably. “If you want to socialize, go to The Room. Supper is to be served in an hour and a half. You can use the time to get started on the homework I know you have.”

 

“Professor Snape, I had an idea today during our lesson. I bought the assigned textbook, as well as another potions book that Lucius Malfoy said is more updated. Is there a way that we could brew the recipes from both at the same time to compare them?” Hermione asked, pulling out the two textbooks from her bag to show him. She looked up in time to see Professor Snape’s eyebrow twitch.

 

“Come to my office before curfew, I’ll see about arranging extra potions lessons for you, and everyone else in this room is free to  _watch_ ,” he said after a contemplative pause, having taken the updated text from Hermione and skimmed through it briefly. He handed it back to her with a nod.

 

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Hermione grinned, stowing her books away again and leaving the room with the rest of her year-mates. As soon as they left the classroom, the door slammed shut. Theo looked around the corridor for potential eavesdroppers, before he pulled the group into a huddle.

 

“Hey. So, get this. The goblins  _still_  won’t tell the public who broke into Gringotts this summer, or what they tried to take,” Theo whispered excitedly, pulling a page from the Daily Prophet out of his bag. Hermione caught a glimpse of Daphne rolling her eyes fondly at the boy. “We’ve already been told that it happened on the 31st of July, but the only new thing the Aurors discovered is that the vault had been opened earlier that day!”

 

“Theo, mate, do we really have to talk about this  _here._  In an empty  _corridor_  where  _anybody_  could hear us?” Blaise hissed, motioning around them. Theo paid no attention to Blaise.

 

“Wait, 31st of July? That was the day  _I_  went to Diagon Alley. The day I met you, Potter, and the Malfoys.” Hermione replied. “Can I see that?”

 

Theo nodded and handed the article over. Blaise threw his hands up in indignation and stepped back from the group.

 

“That’s insane. Any one of us could have been in there when it was emptied,” Hermione murmured, reading over the article for herself. She passed it over to Draco when he motioned towards it, and caught a glimpse of Blaise pacing around their group, head in his hands and muttering to himself.

 

“Cazzo dell'inferno, questo è esattamente ciò che non si deve fare se non vuoi essere espulso. Avremmo potuto andare direttamente nella nostra stanza privata dove nessuno poteva origliare ma no! Dovevi disobbedire al Professor Snape e non potevi neanche ascoltarmi quando dissi di uscire dal corridoio aperto! Fanculo! Perché sono ancora fottutamente amici con te!” Blaise’s muttering seemed to be barely coherent.  _(Fucking hell, this is exactly what not to do if you don't want to get expelled. We could have gone straight to our private room where nobody could eavesdrop but no! You had to disobey Professor Snape and couldn't even listen to me when I said to get out of the open corridor! Fuck! Why am I still fucking friends with you!)_

 

“Hang on, wait a minute. Wasn’t Potter in Diagon with the half-giant Gameskeeper? The one that sleeps in the hut down by the edge of the Forbidden Forest?” Draco asked Hermione after reading the article as well, pulling her attention away from the angry boy.

 

“Yeah, he was! Wait, you aren’t suggesting that  _he_ broke in?” Hermione answered.

 

“No, no, no! Not that he broke in, but did you notice that he seemed to be holding his chin a  _bit_  too high for someone who’s obviously part-giant?” Draco explained, absentmindedly passing the article to Blaise, who had angrily rejoined the huddle.

 

“Uh, no? That’s not something I typically look for,” Hermione said slowly.

 

“Oh, well he was.”

 

“Oh, okay,” Hermione paused, “so what are we going to do about it?”

 

“We’d have to find a way to ask him. Or we could just kidnap Potter and interrogate him when we get him alone?” Theo suggested, looking around at his fellow conspirators.

 

“ _Che cazzo!_  For the love of bloody magic, why on  _Earth_  would we kidnap The-Boy-Who-Lived?” Blaise hissed, pulling Theo by his shoulder, “Are you mental?! That has to be a one-way ticket to bloody Azkaban!” _(What the fuck!)_

 

“How about we take this to the study room!” Pansy stated loudly, startling everyone out of the argument.

 

“Great idea, Pansy. Let’s go. Now.” Daphne said, half-heartedly glaring at her companions. Theo took one look at her expression and sighed.

 

“Okay fine. We’ll conspirarize when we’re in a private room,” Theo conceded, snatching the newspaper article from Blaise.

 

“So you won’t listen to me but you’ll listen to  _them?!_ ” Blaise muttered angrily once Theo stepped out of earshot, “Aspetta, certo che lo faresti da quando Daphne è stata quella che lo ha suggerito.”  _(_ _Wait, of course, you'd do it since Daphne was the one who suggested it.)_

 

Theo began stalking off towards the staircase and, when he noticed nobody followed him, turned around with an air of impatience surrounding him. “ _Well?_  Come on! Let’s go! You know how I get when I come up with a theory and can’t tell anyone about it.”

 

“Alright, damn. Calm down, Theo, we’re coming.” Draco said. He made eye-contact with Vince and Greg and the three turned away from one another immediately, covering up their laughs with coughs.

 

“Merlin’s beard, you’re touchy.” Draco continued after he had finished cough-laughing.

 

“I am not! I just have the constant urge to share my thoughts out loud in order to appease my need for acknowledgement.” Theo protested, making the whole group laugh. Blaise followed the group at a distance. Hermione glanced at him and immediately felt worried for Theo. If looks could kill, Theo would be in the ground already.

 

When they arrived at the court’s room, Theo made his way over to the old Professor’s desk and slammed the article flat onto it.

 

 

 GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST:  
 Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July,   
widely believed to be the work of Dark witches or wizards unknown.  
 Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken.  
The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.  
 “But we’re not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out, if  
you know what’s good for you,” said a Gringotts spokes-goblin this afternoon.

 

 

“Theo, there’s nothing informative in this article? Are you sure this is the whole thing?” Pansy pointed out, frowning. She hadn’t read it in the huddle.

 

“You think I didn’t bring the original article with me to Hogwarts?” Theo asked incredulously.

 

“Of course you did,” she muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes upwards. Theo shot her a dirty look before pulling a folded up paper from the depths of his satchel. “Here, read it.”

 

 

 **BREAK-IN AT GRINGOTTS** **  
** **8 August 1981**

 Believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown, Gringotts  
goblins, while acknowledging the breach, insist nothing was taken. The  
vault in question had, in fact, been emptied the very same day. Gringotts  
now need to readdress their security system. Goblin security specialists  
are combing the land for a better breed of security dragon to replace the  
now deemed useless existing ones. They are even going as far as examining  
muggle security systems. Gringotts need to get another security system in place  
before any more breaches occur. Wizards, Witches all over the country are  
scratching their heads wondering how safe their money is in the so-called  
safest wizard bank. Head Goblins are urging the wizarding community for calm.

 

 

“Now, honestly, what can  _we_  do about it?” Hermione muttered.

 

“Well  _we_ can’t actually do much, but  _I_  just want to know what Potter knows. We need to catch him off guard, alone. I don’t think he’ll speak to us with Weasley, Finnegan, and Thomas surrounding him.” Theo said defeatedly.

 

“I could probably ask him. Or if I pretend to be asleep tonight, Weasley might bring it up and gossip about it with Potter. He does that quite a lot, actually,” Neville suggested softly. Theo’s head shot up and he started grinning.

 

“Neville! You’re a genius!” He cried, pulling the sole Gryffindor into a hug. Draco coughed and Theo pulled himself off of Neville. “Sorry, uh, about that.” he scratched the back of his neck.

 

“It’s al-” Neville cleared his throat awkwardly, “It’s alright, I can come back here tomorrow after breakfast? With the information?”

 

“Yeah, that works!” Theo replied.

 

“Did you forget Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow morning after breakfast and that you agreed to sit out there and watch with me so I know how good I need to be next year? Neville can just meet us on the Pitch or something, yeah?” Draco reminded Theo, who tensed up a bit.

 

“Damn I did forget. Any idea how long it’ll take? I wanted to actually explore the library tomorrow without interference from the rest of you.” Theo replied, shoulders slumping.

 

“Hey! We aren’t that bad!” Greg protested at the same time Hermione scowled and said, “Well if that’s how you really feel,  _Theodore_.”

 

“Guys, woah. I didn’t mean it that way. Hermione, you’re an angel. I finally have another book-lover to have intellectual conversations with. I just meant that the past two times we’ve been anywhere near the library, I was forcibly dragged away. Both times! It’s been a whole week and I’ve still barely been inside of it.” Theo muttered the last part to himself, though the whole group heard him.

 

“It  _is_ a good thing we're going to watch the Quidditch tryouts. Us and the Gryffindor first years have flying lessons together starting Thursday of next week.” Pansy informed the group. Cheers broke out from the boys, while the other girls grimaced slightly. Neville, on the other hand, had lost all colour to his face, as if he couldn't think of a single thing he’d rather not do.

 

“Wait, flying? Like on a broom? You actually do that?” Hermione asked, shocked.  _I didn’t think that actually happened._

 

“Yes! Flying is the best thing in the world! I’m aiming to be Quidditch captain before we leave Hogwarts. I’ve practised being Chaser and Seeker, with Vince and Greg as Beaters, Blaise as Keeper and sometimes we even convinced Theo to leave his books and play Chaser with me. I quite like being in the middle of the action as opposed to Seeking, but I’ll be happy with whatever as long as I’m on the team,” Draco’s face lit up like a Christmas tree while he spoke. “Father said if I get onto the team next year that he’ll make a donation of 7 new top-of-the-line brooms to celebrate.”

 

“Wow that’s incredible, but I’m sorry did you say  _Beaters_ ??” Hermione asked incredulously. “I’ve  _got_ to go to the Library after dinner and find any books about Quidditch that could help me learn about it. And then I have to speak to Professor Snape about the idea I had in Potions.”

 

“There you go, Theo. Looks like you’re getting an extra trip to the Library in this week.” Blaise commented sarcastically. Theo’s eyes narrowed and he shoved Blaise in the shoulder. Blaise shoved him back, but before the two boys could do more harm to one another, Draco waved Vince and Greg towards them and the two beefier first years easily interfered.

 

“I need to start exercising so you can’t bloody  _do that_  to me anymore,” Theo grumbled, wrenching his body out of Vince’s grip.

 

“If you hadn’t shoved Blaise first, I wouldn’t have had to do that, mate,” Vince replied, offering the smaller boy a cheeky grin.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The first-year boys' dorm in Gryffindor had proved itself to be quite the source of gossip, much to the delight of both Theo and Pansy. But, being dragged to the Slytherin Quidditch teams tryouts did nothing to help Hermione nor Neville prepare for Thursdays flying lesson. When the group of first years  _finally_  went to explore the library, Hermione had combed through the shelves until she found a book titled  _Quidditch Through the Ages_.

 

At breakfast on Thursday, hours before the flying lesson, Hermione’s eyes flew across the pages as she read the book for the fifth time - muttering the words under her breath at the same time.

 

“Hermione, dear,” Pansy said, drawing the girl from her reading, “You’re doing it again.”

 

“Oh, I am? I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize.”

 

“We know,” Blaise shot her a cheeky grin and received a mock sneer in return.

 

“Wait. Everyone shut up and look at the Gryffindor table. Weasley’s messing with Neville. Neville must have gotten mail. I’m going over to check it out. Vince, Greg. I want one of you with me and one of you to stay here. Anyone else who wants to come along can,” Draco quickly instructed. Vince and Greg put their heads together. After a moment, Greg stood up with a nod to Draco. Hermione, who had finished reading, stood up and grabbed her school bag with the book still in her hand. Daphne, Pansy, and Theo stopped their whispered conversation to look over at Hermione.

 

“I told Neville I’d let him read it again before the flying lesson. This just gives me an excuse to see him sooner. I have it checked out until Saturday anyway,” she explained with a shrug. Blaise took advantage of that moment to stand up and grab the over-packed shoulder bag from Hermione’s hand and sling it over his own shoulder.

 

If the four Slytherin first years had gotten stares for walking to the Gryffindor table, they hadn’t noticed. What they had noticed, however, sparked something inside all of them - Weasley taunting Neville with the fragile-looking globe he had only just gotten in the post.

 

“Hey, Neville. Is Weasley bothering you?” Draco asked as he stood behind Weasley. Neville had been facing the Slytherin table, while Weasley and Potter were sat across from him with their backs to the snakes.

 

“Gran sent me a Remembrall. As soon as I had unwrapped it and figured out what it was, Weasley snatched it from me before I could figure out what I’m forgetting.”

 

Draco sneered condescendingly, “Figures. The Weasley  _Clan_  has far too many children for them to all have as good of manners as the Ancient and Noble Families. Learn how to respect your  _betters_ , Weasley.”

 

Hermione took a moment to glance down the Gryffindor table, to try and spot the other Weasley boys, but to no avail. When Ronald Weasley turned in his seat, Draco took advantage and snatched the Remembrall out of  _his_  hand only to pass it behind him to Hermione. Just before Weasley could do anything, Professor McGonagall had appeared behind the Slytherins.

 

“Just  _what_  is going on here?!” McGonagall asked, glaring at the Slytherins.

 

“Malfoy took Neville’s Remembrall, Professor!” Weasley declared, eager to point the blame to someone other than himself, not realizing that it was no longer in the boy's hands, but Hermione’s.

 

“Actually, Professor, Weasley took my Remembrall and wouldn’t give it back. Draco was just getting it back from him for me,” Neville explained, somewhat softly.

 

McGonagall huffed uncharacteristically before saying, “Ten points from Slytherin and Gryffindor for fighting in the Great Hall.”

 

Weasley and Potter both groaned, but Neville shrugged, grabbed his belongings, and stood up from the Gryffindor table.

 

 

The first year Court met up in the Entrance Hall, where Hermione handed Neville both his Remembrall and her library book with a small smile. He nodded appreciatively.

 

“Bye Neville, see you later,” Draco spoke for the other Slytherins.

 

“Yeah, bye guys. I’ll see you guys after lunch,” Neville sighed, heading up to whichever class the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years had right after breakfast.

 

 

* * *

 

 

At 3:00 in the afternoon, the Slytherin first-years were joined by Neville as they were escorted to where the flying lessons were located.

 

“Alright snakes. Remember our second rule; don’t get caught. And make sure to get the better brooms.” Prefect Spiers, who had been chosen as an escort, advised.

 

“Your help is much appreciated, Prefect Spiers,” Draco said, nodding his head to the Prefect. The others quickly copied his movements.

 

After a short amount of time, the other Gryffindors finally arrived. The court, of course, had already lined up next to the brooms, with Neville stood across from Draco in the middle of the Gryffindor row.

 

Their instructor arrived shortly after the Gryffindors.

 

“Alright, first-years. This is the second class I’ve done this week, which means that you are my second and final group of first-years. However, you probably don’t know who I am. My name is Madam Hooch. I coach Quidditch and act as the referee during the matches, and teach the first-years the basics of flying during the month of September. Now, everybody make sure to stand next to a broom.”

 

The Gryffindors took a break from glaring at the Slytherins and finally moved to stand in line with Neville.

 

“Stick your right hand over the broom and say UP!” Madam Hooch instructed from between the rows.

 

Hermione’s broom didn’t move up. It just rolled towards Daphne, much to her frustration. Neville’s broom didn’t even do that. Potter’s broom, however.  _Potter’s broom_  flew instantly into his outstretched hand, much to Weasley’s delight and Draco’s irritation. ( _“Saint Potter would be a natural flyer. I can’t seem to hold anything over him,” Draco would later say._ )

 

Neville tried and failed, for the second time trying to summon his broom.

 

“Neville, you need to really  _command_  your broomstick, otherwise it won’t deem you worthy enough to ride it and also won’t cooperate with you if you try to.” Draco advised his Gryffindor friend from across the patch of grass they were lined up on. Draco’s broom had also instantly flown up into his hand, albeit before Potter had even attempted.

 

“Spot on advice, Mister Malfoy. Take a point.” Madam Hooch praised, giving the Slytherin side something that might have been an attempt at a smile. It looked more like a grimace to Hermione.

 

Neville nodded his head and took a deep breath. With a stronger tone of voice, he shouted, “Up!”

 

The whole Slytherin side congratulated Neville when the broomstick flew up to meet his hand, even if it did move a bit slow in the air.

 

Soon after Neville summoned his broom, Madam Hooch instructed them on the proper way to mount them. Hermione watched with narrowed eyes when Weasley and Potter grinned at one another while Madam Hooch corrected Draco’s grip in front of the entire class.

 

“That grip is outdated, Mr Malfoy. Who taught you to fly?”

 

“My father taught me how to fly when I was younger,  _Madam_ , and it’s worked perfectly fine for me,” Draco replied with a hint of a sneer. Madam Hooch pursed her lips but moved on to look over the other boys.

 

“Right. Now then, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle, now. Three… Two…”

 

Hermione watched Neville’s eyes dart between the Slytherins and their instructor. A looming sense of trepidation came over her just before Neville’s broom shot off the ground, with him holding on for dear life. A soft gasp sounded from the other side of Daphne and Hermione felt paralyzed when she saw Neville’s broom buck him off into a free fall.

 

The thud of Neville’s landing harmonized with the crack of his wrist as it broke on impact. Madam Hooch knelt beside Neville to examine him and confirmed what the crack was for the rest of the class.

 

“Broken wrist. Come on, boy - up you get, it’s all right.” Madam Hooch murmured to him. Hermione saw Potter twitch. Madam Hooch turned to face the rest of the class.

 

“None of you is to move while I take this boy to the Hospital Wing! You can leave those brooms where they are or you’ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say ‘Quidditch.’ Come on, dear.”

 

Neville hobbled away from the class cradling his wrist to his chest with tears running down his face, lead by Madam Hooch, who had her arm around his shoulders.

 

 

As soon as the pair were out of earshot, the Gryffindor boys started laying into him.

 

 

“Did you see his face, the coward?” Weasley started.

 

“Why don’t you fall off a broom at that height and see how quickly you are to get back onto one after that.” Daphne hissed, showing everyone the ‘Ice Queen’ side of her.

 

“Oh, Greengrass, I never thought that someone like  _you_  would be into somebody like  _Longbottom_ ,” Patil replied, giggling with Brown.

 

“Parvati, dear, do you really want to continue with that?” Pansy asked cooly, lifting an eyebrow at the girl, “After all, you know what I can do.”

 

“Hey! Look what I found! It’s that  _thing_  he got in the post!” Finnigan exclaimed, holding the Remembrall above his head.

 

“Seamus! Let me see it! I want to go hide it for him to find!” Weasley said with a nasty grin on his face.

 

“Oi, Weasel. Let’s play a game of catch yeah?” Draco sneered slightly, nodding his head towards the Remembrall. Weasley looked over at Finnigan, shrugged, then tossed the trinket to Draco, who caught it with ease. Draco smirked back at the rest of the Slytherins and then turned it nasty when he faced the Gryffindors.

 

“You couldn’t leave it in a tree if your magic depended on it, Weasel. I think I’ll keep this for a while, don’t you agree? I’m much more competent than you are, after all.”

 

“Give it back, Malfoy. Longbottom’s not in  _your_  house,” Potter demanded quietly.

 

“With the way you’re acting, Neville’s not in  _your_  house either,” Blaise stated loud enough to cause embarrassment for the other house. Draco shot Blaise a quick look before grinning at Potter.

 

“If  _you_  want it so badly, come and get it from me,” Draco taunted.

 

Much to Hermione’s horror, Draco mounted his broom again and kicked off the ground quickly, shooting up like a bottle rocket. She turned and walked over to where Tracey stood.

 

“I can’t look. He’s an idiot. What if that broom bucks him off like Neville’s did? Madam Hooch specifically said not to move the brooms and here he is, flying through the air taunting Gryffindors.” Hermione started wringing her hands together anxiously. Tracey looked at her sympathetically. A collective gasp escaped the Gryffindors and Hermione looked over to see  _Harry Potter_  jumping onto a broom and shooting into the air after Draco.

 

“Oh, my  _God_. What are they doing?!” Hermione asked faintly, sitting on the grass before her knees gave out. Blaise and Pansy walked over and sat next to her.

 

“‘Mione.  _Relax_. Draco knows what he’s doing. He’s been flying since before he could walk.” Pansy comforted Hermione as much as she could while maintaining her public image.

 

“Yeah, he does all kinds of stunts now, in the Quidditch Pitch behind the forest on the grounds at Malfoy Manor. Drives his Mother up the walls, he does. But he knows how to control a broom. It’s like riding an Abraxan,” Blaise reassured. Hermione sighed and laid on the ground on her back.

 

All of the sudden, Draco appeared. He laid down next to Hermione, discreetly shoving the Remembrall in her bag, and rested his head on her stomach like he had been there the whole time.

 

“I saw McGonagall through a window and decided to get the hell out of the air, especially because Madam Hooch explicitly told us not to touch the brooms. I feinted throwing the Remembrall - I actually just threw a shiny rock I found - and I think Potter fell for it. I didn’t stay to look.” He explained quietly.

 

The Gryffindors all screamed, gasped or cheered as Potter dove to the ground on the broomstick.  _Somehow_  he managed to pull out of the dive quick enough to avoid crashing and caught the rock Draco threw. Potter looked at what he caught, realized he had been tricked, and looked around for Draco to glare at him, only for Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch to both appear and walk towards the first years.

 

“ _Mister Potter_!”

 

“Oh  _shit_!” Blaise whispered excitedly, exchanging grins with Draco.

 

“ _Never_  - in  _all_  my time at Hogwarts - how  _dare_  you - might have broken your neck!” Professor McGonagall shook, whether, from anger or concern, nobody could tell.

 

“Professor! It wasn’t his fault - !”

 

“Be quiet, Miss Patil -”

 

“But Malfoy -”

 

“That is  _enough_ , Mister Weasley. Potter, with me.  _Now_.”

 

The silence only lasted long enough for McGonagall to lead Potter out of earshot. Then, the dam burst and chaos erupted with the excitement from the Slytherins and ‘righteous anger’ from the Gryffindors.

 

In the end, it took Madam Hooch blowing her whistle half a dozen times before the first-years calmed down enough to listen to instruction.

 

“Well, considering there are two missing students, I don’t see a point to continuing the lesson today. If I decide to reschedule, there will be a message posted on the notice-boards in both Common Rooms. Class dismissed!”

 

If an unbiased on-looker had seen the way the two Houses exited the training grounds to go back to the Hogwarts Castle, they probably would have commended Slytherin on how well-behaved the first years are - especially in the face of their biggest rival house taunting them. Madam Hooch, however, was not an unbiased on-looker, so she did not.

 

The Slytherin first-years had closed ranks as soon as they left the training grounds, and didn’t open up again until they were inside the Court’s Room with the door closed and locked.

 

“Listen up everyone. We can’t keep running around in our entire group. It’s not efficient enough to get everything done,” Draco said, walking behind the old Professor desk. “Hermione, you still need to get those books Professor Snape asked for, before class tomorrow. Theo needs to explore the library more - he keeps whining about it at night in the dorms. I imagine Tracey and Daphne want to go visit Neville, Vince go with them. I’d like Greg with me and Blaise, you stick with Pansy and Millicent.

 

“I say - we all split up to get what we want done - and then come back here say… a quarter to dinner. Since flying didn’t last the whole two hours it was meant to, we can use the leftover time and the study hall after that to get as much done before dinner, then report what we actually got done at the study hall between dinner and curfew.”

 

There was a chorus of agreement following Draco’s speech. The groups got together and quickly left the Court’s Room, all splitting away from each other at different points. Hermione, Theo, Blaise, Pansy, and Millicent all separated from the main group on the ground floor - the latter three to go to the courtyard and the former two to explore the Hogwarts library.

 

“Okay, Hermione. What books did Professor Snape ask you to get?” Theo asked, “I know the library pretty well so far, I should be able to help you.”

 

“Let’s see,” Hermione pulled the list and signed slip for the Restricted Section that Professor Snape gave her. “ _Moste Potente Potions_ ,  _Advanced Potion-Making_  - that one he asked for a specific copy of, apparently The Half-Blood Prince went to Hogwarts before he published that potions textbook I have and wrote down all kinds of corrections in the margins.  _Obscure Artes of the Mind_  - that’s not a potions book though. I don’t know where I’d find that.  _Asiatic Anti-Venoms_ , that’s the last one.”

 

Theo whistled low. “Those are intense. I doubt you’ll be magically mature enough to even attempt some of those Potions in the first two books. But  _Moste Potente Potions_  and  _Obscure Artes of the Mind_  are both in the restricted section. I imagine that the specific copy of  _Advanced Potion-Making_  is in the Potions classroom - if it’s anywhere at all.”

 

“All right. Let’s go to the Restricted Section,” Hermione nodded. The pair walked to Madam Pince’s desk and showed her the slip signed by Professor Snape. She simply waved them towards the back of the Library.

 

“Let’s go!” Theo whispered excitedly, “I haven’t been able to sneak into the Restricted Section yet!”

 

Hermione placed the slip on a tray near the doors to the Restricted Section, and the slip was absorbed into it. The doors opened slowly, emitting a loud creak as they did so, and the two Slytherin first-years walked in.

 

“Okay well, Professor Snape didn’t specify what books we were allowed to check out on the slip we just lost. Let’s find the two and then look around a bit more to see if there are any other Potions books,” Theo murmured.

 

It took them long enough for the bell tower to chime half-past five to locate both books and another titled  _The Intricacies of Magical Culture_  that they both skimmed through briefly and agreed might help Hermione settle in better. After they left the Restricted Section, Theo dragged Hermione to the Potions section of the regular Library to find the other two books she needed. They couldn’t find the Advanced Potion-Making, but they found _Asiatic Anti-Venoms_  and brought the four books to check out.

 

Hermione was reminded to return  _Quidditch Through the Ages_  before Sunday evening, and the two Slytherins walked out of the Library and returned to the Court’s Room.

 

“Do you want to look for the other book in the Potions classroom?” Theo asked, setting down the three books from the Restricted Section on the edge of the Professor’s desk.

 

“No, I think it would be better to go after dinner,” Hermione replied, “Actually, speaking of the Potions classroom - I almost slipped up and called this room the court’s room in Potions last week. Who knows what other Gryffindors would have heard me. We should come up with a name for the room that’s discreet enough to deter anyone who’s not us from wanting to know what it is. I called it the study room, but I dunno if that’ll work forever.”

 

“Hmm… Well, the upper years have the lounging areas in the Common Room. I know that our ‘Lounge’ is in the other room, but we could always just say Lounge when we talk about this room in general. I think, maybe without Neville around us. With Neville, we can say study room, because Professor Snape outed us for studying as a court, so the Gryffindors now know that we study with Neville. Or we could just come up with a new name altogether. I say wait until everyone’s back before we actually write anything down,” Theo said, sitting down in the armchair behind the desk.

 

 

It didn’t take much longer for Daphne, Tracey, Neville, and Vincent to arrive. Neville’s arm was in a sling but otherwise, he looked perfectly normal.

 

 

“Oh, Neville! Are you alright? How’s your wrist?” Hermione asked, concerned.

 

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Madam Pomfrey fixed it immediately, then spent 20 minutes lecturing me about the dangers of the school brooms. She wants me to wear this until I go to bed tonight, to make sure I don’t use this arm and disrupt the spell she used.”

 

 

The door to the court’s room opened and revealed Pansy and Millicent. When they walked through, Blaise appeared from behind the door and shut it after he walked in.

 

 

“The Patil twins have been recruited into my spy network, and Hannah Abbott agreed to meet with me every week or so to exchange rumours. I’d say today was successful,” Pansy declared with a triumphant smirk on her face. “How did everyone else do?”

 

“Theo helped me find all but one of the books Professor Snape listed for me, and I let him join me in the Restricted Section to explore. I think we did alright.” Hermione motioned towards the stack of books between her and Theo, and the others all noticed the smug expression on his face. Blaise nodded, impressed.

 

“Neville was allowed to leave just as we got there, but he has to keep his arm steady to make sure the spell does what it’s supposed to do,” Daphne replied for her group.

 

“Does anyone have an idea of what Draco needed to get done?” Blaise asked, glancing at everybody in the group.

 

“Well he looked pretty smug about getting Potter into trouble, so I imagine he probably went looking for him to gloat.” Theo wasn’t looking at anybody when he spoke - he was busy making sure that the stack of books were  _perfectly_  lined up with one another.

 

“ _Shit_ ,” Blaise muttered, “Of  _course_  he’d only want Greg with him. Weasley’s rat bit Greg on the train, didn’t he? And wherever Potter is, Weasley’s probably not going to be far behind him. We have to find Draco before he does something, well,  _Draco_.”

 

“Neville if we walk with you to the Gryffindor Tower, can you go in and look for Potter and Weasley?” Daphne asked gently.

 

“I - uh… can’t remember the password, actually. Haven’t been able to since we got here. I normally go in with everyone else - so there’s never been a need for me to,” Neville admitted reluctantly.

 

Blaise’s face fell into his hands. Pansy sighed softly. The bell chimed distantly to signal 6 o’clock.

 

“Okay. So we have no idea where Draco is, there’s half an hour until dinner, and Neville has no way of getting into Gryffindor Tower without needing assistance. Who agrees that we should stop by Professor Snape’s office and see if he’s there and can help with at least one of the two issues?” Tracey spoke up hesitantly. The group hastily gathered all of the stuff they had lying around the room and left to find Professor Snape.

 

They checked the Potions classroom and Professor Snape’s office. Both were empty.

 

“Okay, you know what. Let’s just go put our stuff in our dorms and head to dinner. Vince, can you stay out with Neville? I’ll put your stuff away for you.” Blaise suggested, turning to the other boy.

 

“Yeah, that’s fine. Here.” Vince handed Blaise his school bag and walked back to where Neville was leaning against the wall opposite the Slytherin Common Room Entrance.

 

“ _Traditionalist_ ,” Pansy whispered to the wall. They were all getting odd looks from Neville, whose expression shifted to one of awe when the stone wall slid out and revealed the doorway to the Snake Pit. In record time, the first years entered the Common Room, walked to their dorms, put their stuff away, and met back at the Entrance. They were stopped by the seventh-year prefect, Terence Higgs.

 

“Why is there a Gryffindor outside the Entrance?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest and looking down at them.

 

“He’s with us. Neville, he…” Tracey couldn’t find the words.

 

“He’s been ostracized by his own House. Hermione met him on the train before she found Draco and Theodore, so Neville sat with us too. It’s no secret within our year that Neville’s one of our group. Professor Snape even gave Theo and Draco points for including Neville in our ‘study group’. You can trust us when we say he’s  _one of us_.” Daphne looked Higgs right in the eyes and practically dared him to challenge her. Higgs raised an eyebrow at her as a result.

 

“If that’s true -”

 

“It is.”

 

“- and Professor Snape even gave you  _points_  for studying with a Gryffindor -”

 

“He did.”

 

“- stop interrupting me - then I guess he’s alright. He’s not allowed inside the Pit, though.” Higgs was now glaring at them all because of the interruptions.

 

“We wouldn’t bring him in without asking Professor Snape first. And only when it’s a last resort for Neville,” Pansy retorted, her tone like one of a protective mother. Higgs huffed, and let them out of the common room.

 

“Draco is nowhere to be found,” Theo spoke quietly to Vince and Neville. They were walking to Professor Snape’s private office together as a whole group.

 

They approached the door quickly, with Blaise and Pansy leading them, and Hermione’s apprehension about the whole situation grew with every step.

 

“Wait. No. Why are we asking somebody else to solve  _our_  problem? Draco’s in  _our_  House, in  _our_  year, and he’s  _our_  leader. We need to sort this ourselves. If he’s done something outlandishly idiotic,  _then_  we go to Professor Snape,” Pansy threw her arm out to stop Blaise. The rest of the group stopped behind them. “Let’s go to dinner. It’ll be easier to think when we aren’t all starving.”

 

“Maybe if you had eaten more at lunch you wouldn’t be so hungry,” Blaise muttered under his breath. Pansy glared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes.

 

“Shut up Blaise.” Pansy walked away from Professor Snape’s office - and the group - and towards the hidden passageway that would take them to the Grand Staircase. The rest followed her.

 

 

 

Draco and Greg arrived in the Great Hall at exactly 6:30 with smug grins on their faces.

 

 

 

“What did you do, Draco?” Theo asked curiously.

 

“ _I_  challenged Potter to a wizard’s duel. Tonight. At midnight. In the trophy room. I named Greg as my second, and Weasley jumped in and said he would be Potter’s. Potter hadn’t a clue what I was talking about, it’ll be the easiest wizard’s duel ever -”

 

“I’m sorry, you let him do  _what_  now?” Pansy hissed, staring icily at Greg, who gulped nervously, before turning to Draco. “Are you actually dumb?”

 

“For your information,  _Pansy_ , I’m not. I thought you knew me better than that if you actually thought I was going to risk my own skin and reputation just to get some petty revenge on Potter.” Came the smooth response from Draco, drawing Pansy’s attention away from Gregory.

 

“I spoke really loudly about hearing that somebody planned on being in the trophy room at midnight tonight when we walked past Filch on our way to the Common Room to put our bags away,” Draco continued before taking his first bite of dinner.

 

The whole group seemed to collectively sigh at Draco.

 

 

 

The next morning at breakfast resulted in all 10 of the Slytherin first-years sighing from the disappointment of seeing Potter and Weasley grinning at one another the next morning at breakfast. Hermione noted, however, that Neville looked as if he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep that night. He also seemed to drink at least five cups of tea that Friday morning.

 

Draco and Hermione weren’t the only students who had received packages that day. If their sweets boxes earned them envious looks from students from other Houses, then the very-obviously broomstick-shaped package that  _Potter_  received had everybody turning green.

 

“Isn’t that… that looks like a broomstick. Who got a bloody broomstick sent to them in the mail?” Draco asked incredulously, reminding them all how Quidditch-obsessed he was. The group collectively drew in a breath when it landed in front of Potter, who removed the package from the owls’ legs.

 

“Un- _fucking_ -believable. Of  _course_ , Potter would get a bloody broomstick in the bloody mail. Never mind the fucking  _rule_ that  _clearly_ states ‘no first years are allowed their own brooms’ on the bottom of every bloody Hogwarts acceptance letter.” Draco stood up immediately once he had figured out the fastest route to get to Potter - passing the Great Hall doors rather than the Head Table like they did last time - leaving his unfinished breakfast, school bag, and sweets box, behind.

 

“Oh for the love of bloody Merlin,” Blaise groaned. Silently, he ushered Vince and Greg to follow Draco while grabbing the sweets box and both of their bags before following  _them_. Hermione, having a feeling of dread come over her, signalled to the rest of the group that she was going with them and grabbed a stack of buttered toast and her own bag.

 

Hermione walked quickly between the Slytherin table and the wall behind her, balancing the stack of toast precariously, and managed to catch up with Blaise as he caught up with Draco, Vince, and Greg inside the Entrance Hall.

 

“Seeing as none of us actually finished our breakfast, I brought toast to eat on the way to Herbology,” she explained quietly, watching Draco show Vince and Greg how to pose  _just so_  in order to block the stairway when Potter and Weasley appear.

 

Soon enough, Potter and Weasley did appear, both wearing shit-eating grins when they looked at one another. Hermione, wanting to wipe their smiles off their faces, did her best impression of Professor Snape’s attitude during that first class and sneered condescendingly at the pair.

 

“Look, Blaise. Look how  _common_  they look with those expressions their wearing. All because Potter got a package in the mail,” she mocked, her voice taking on a sickly-sweet mocking tone. Blaise looked at her sharply for a moment before he shifted his body to complement her tone and expression. She is carrying a stack of toast after all, and can’t cross her arms over her chest.

 

“It’s almost as if Potter’s never  _gotten_  a package before. How… hmm… I can’t say charming because quite frankly it isn’t… how… how  _sad_.”

 

“Yes all right, you two.  _We_  aren’t the ones that broke the very specific rule that states first years aren’t allowed to have their own brooms. Oh don’t look so surprised,  _Potter_ , it isn’t exactly wrapped discreetly, now is it?” Draco sneered and opened his mouth to continue when Weasley chose that moment to speak.

 

“It’s not just any old broomstick, Malfoy. It’s a Nimbus Two Thousand!” Weasley bragged.

 

“Yes, well. It’s not yours though, is it Weasley? You couldn’t afford even half the handle. I suppose you have to save up twig by twig, you and your brothers.” Draco cut in.

 

Professor Flitwick saved Weasley from more embarrassment when he appeared at Draco’s elbow.

 

“Not arguing, I hope, boys?” he asked.

 

“Potter has a broomstick, Professor Flitwick,” replied Hermione quickly.

 

“Oh yes! That’s right, Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances,” said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Potter. “What model is it?”

 

“It’s a Nimbus Two Thousand, sir.” Potter grinned, “It’s really thanks to Malfoy that I’ve got it.”

 

Potter and Weasley made their way to the staircase to go to their Common Room but paused when Hermione spoke up.

 

“ _I_  can’t believe Weasley was bragging about another boy’s broomstick, in front of  _me_ , a girl. That’s so impolite,” Hermione said, handing Draco a few pieces of toast from the Great Hall.

 

“Well, how could he have known? He’s the sixth child of seven and the youngest son. If the older children weren’t taught proper manners, why would the younger children be taught manners?” Draco replied, “besides, Father says they live in a hut like the half-giant down at the edge of the Forbidden Forest does. We can’t hold them to the same standards that we hold ourselves to.”

 

“Even Muggle boys are held to higher standards than Weasley is.” Hermione sighed. Blaise laughed at that.

 

“Well, that’s surprising. I guess we can start saying the Weasley’s are inferior to everybody, now, including the Muggles,” he commented, holding open one of the doors that leads outside.

 

“Pansy would love that.” Draco mused thoughtfully.

 

“Yes, I imagine she would,” Hermione replied just as thoughtfully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayeeeeee you made it to the end! if you liked the chapter, please leave a kudos if you haven't already, subscribe to get notified when i update (which at this rate seems to be every four months. i'll write my version of the second hp book with more planning i promise lmao) and comment what you liked/didn't and your theories if you want! i always enjoy reading your feedback, and i've tried to reply to all the comments so far. 
> 
> i actually have a question for you all: what should the gang call themselves and their room? (i'm getting tired of writing "the gang" or "the first year court" or "the group of slytherin first years plus neville" and "the court's room" all the time. and i suck at making names so i'm asking for your input.
> 
> also if you guys have words you really enjoy that you think might fit into this story somehow that i could put in the beginning of each chapter please comment them bc i'll probably eventually run out of words i like that also fit. :)


	5. Not a Chapter (Author's Note)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For anyone intending on ignoring this update because it's not a chapter for the story, there's a link to a discord server I've made for this fic where you all can talk to me directly, if you want. 
> 
> i only ask you to not nag me about when the next update is coming up because writing is hard guys.

Hey Everyone!

Sorry to get your hopes up and ultimately disappoint you, but this isn't an actual chapter. Don't worry! I'm not abandoning you, but my inspiration seems to have abandoned me. That happens a lot of the time when I'm writing my own things that don't coincide with any actual HP chapter. (see chapter 3, that one took me so long to finally sit down and finish, just because I didn't have any canon scenes to use as fillers.)

That being said, I'm also writing this alone and don't have what others call a Beta reader. If anyone wants the job (I mean I won't be paying you so is it really a job?) you can contact me through the  ** _new TSM2.0 discord server!!_** (shameless plug lmfao). All you gotta do to be Beta is..... idk suggest something. like something really good. Or just be active super often (I'm on discord almost everyday)

 

https://discord.gg/ZXdqKuh

 

Just a couple things I also wanted to let you all know, I'm gonna be spending 3 months in England (from January through April 2019) and I don't know how much behind the scenes writing I'll get done. I've also been ill for the past two weeks, and I was working during the Halloween season at one of the halloween stores in my town. I'm currently looking for another job so I can have more money in the UK to spend. 

Don't worry! I'm not leaving you! I want to sit down and write, the only problem is I don't know what to write.

Happy Remembrance/Veterans Day Weekend!


	6. Another Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oops?

So uh, howdy everybody. How's life been treating you all? I've noticed a handful or two have joined my discord server, which is pretty neat. I also have a sort of beta reader who's pulled me out of the funk I was in regarding my actual fifth chapter. I've also been talking to the author Neptune bc I've joined their server and became a Patron on Patreon and they've done this thing bc they reached $100 where they've blocked off time to talk to authors about their fics and they've been critically analyzing this fic and have also given me more inspiration, but not necessarily to continue chapter 5 - which I will do, trust me this fic is my baby I'm not abandoning her, - but to rewrite the start of this fic. Add a chapter before chapter 1 that develops Hermione's backstory and the home situation I hinted at in chapter 2, and add some more character to her character in my actual first chapter. 

In my absence, I have been writing for this fic, but it's been for future chapters in future years and I've been writing them as the inspiration comes to me.   
  
If you notice a rewrite called The Slytherins' Mudblood 3.0 then you'll know it's me. I love this title too much to leave it here.

 

Thank you for all of your kind words of support, I haven't abandoned you. Keep a weathered eye on the horizon, for I might just go through with Neptune's suggestion. (For which they've apologized in advance)

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone who's curious as to how I envisioned my characters in this fic, I have a pinterest board specifically for this fic. Each of the characters introduced in the second chapter of the first fic, including Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley (you'll know by Hermione's third year), and Tracey Davis have their own boards on my pinterest, as well as a board for them all as a group of friends. Links are down below.
> 
>  I took the time to sort through all the pins in each board and assign them where they belong, I also tried to organize the character boards into years.
> 
> "The New Guard" - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-the-new-guard/
> 
> The Slytherin Common Room - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-slytherin-common-room/
> 
> The First Year's Court Room - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-tngs-court-room/
> 
> Astoria - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-astoria-g/
> 
> Blaise - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-blaise-z/
> 
> Daphne - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-daphne-g/
> 
> Draco - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-draco-m/
> 
> Ginevra - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-ginevra-w/
> 
> Gregory - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-gregory-g/
> 
> Hermione - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-hermione-g/
> 
> Luna - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-luna-l/
> 
> Millicent - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-millicent-b/
> 
> Neville - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-neville-l/
> 
> Pansy - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-pansy-p/
> 
> Theo - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-theodore-n-jr/
> 
> Tracey - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-tracey-d/
> 
> Vincent - https://www.pinterest.com/ItsTheBrit/aes-tsm20-vincent-c/


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